OWL's and Experiments
by Salamandersaurus Rex
Summary: One-shot turned multichap. A story recounting the adventures of Doccubus and the gang during their fifth year at Hogwarts. Secrets will be revealed, and friendships and romances formed. T for swearing, rating may possibly change.
1. Prologue

AN: So I'm jumping on the bandwagon presumably by writing this. You've probably guessed it's a one-shot based on the fact that Zoie Palmer (and her cat) are awesome, and the more I think about it, the more I realise that, yes, Hermione Granger is in fact the love child of Energizer Succubunny and Doctor Hotpants. Inspired by the most epic AfterEllen interview I have ever read, I give you this vague attempt at...something.

* * *

Platform nine and three quarters echoed with the sounds of hundreds of young wizards and their parents; the squawking, squeaking, croaking of a multitude of pets, the steam hissing from somewhere underneath the bright, gleaming Hogwarts Express.

Above the heads of the milling crowd, the clock ticked ever closer to eleven o'clock.

At exactly nine minutes to eleven, fifteen year old Hermione burst frantically through the barrier, bushy hair even messier than usual, pushing a neatly yet densely packed trolley ahead of her. Glancing up at the clock, she abruptly halted, and, after passing her trolley to a porter to put on the train, turned around, scanning the crowd for her parents.

Spotting them - a tall, gorgeous blonde woman with her arm around a slightly shorter, yet equally beautiful brunette - she frenziedly waved them over to her. "Over here!" she yelled.

The blonde saw her, grinning and slipping her hand into her wife's, tugging her towards their daughter. They reached her, simultaneously pulling her into a tight hug.

"I'm going to miss you kiddo." The brunette mumbled into Hermione's hair.

"I'll be back by Christmas, it's not that long. Besides, you've got to be used to it by now."

"I know, I know, but still." She straightened up, mussing her daughters' already tousled hair. "Be careful. No getting caught sneaking around after curfew, no late night parties in the common room - unless you can get away with them - and don't go into the forbidden forest."

She grinned, chucking Hermione under the chin. "And if you do go in, don't let the headmaster catch you again. I could barely keep your mother from sending a howler when she heard what you and your pals had been up to in there your first year."

Hermione shuddered. "Lucky Dyson and his centaur buddies were there, huh."

The woman shushed her daughter dramatically. "Hush, don't let your mum hear you speak that name!" She and Hermione laughed.

"Right, I almost forgot. 'No Dyson!'"

Mother and daughter laughed, the blonde even cracking a smile and patting her daughter on the head, glaring good-naturedly up at her wife and saying sarcastically "No sweetie, that rule only applies to your mother."

She glanced up as she heard a loud whistle. Herding her daughter towards one of the carriage doors, she helped her inside. "Come on, don't want to miss the train now, do you?" She pulled Hermione in for a tight hug, planting a kiss on her curly hair.

"Bye honey, see you at Christmas. Remember to study hard, and pass your OWL's. Hale's looking for another Light doctor. You can come be my apprentice."

The brunette nudged her wife gently aside. "Lauren, we really don't need another you." She winked playfully. "Maybe Hermione wants to be a badass private detective like me and Kenz, saving the world and kicking Fae butt."

Lauren harrumphed. "I've helped save the world too, Bo. Besides," she pouted "I can 'kick butt' as you so delightfully phrase it."

Bo laughed at her wife's adorable pout, throwing her arm back around her shoulders. "Kick butt with what? Your microscope? I'd love to see that. All over the front page of the Daily Prophet: "Doctor Lauren Lewis Kicks Ass With Her Trusty Microscope."

"Yeah, well just you wait and see. Maybe my work on the effects of under-Fae digestive enzymes on the repellent properties of Poisonous Turtle-Frog skin secretions will one day save your life, then we'll see who's laughing."

Bo squeezed her wife's shoulders. "I was only joking, Laur. I know your work is very important to the Fae, and your science-ing people to death has been very helpful over the past few years."

Lauren grinned. "I know it has. I really don't know what you Fae would do without me." She leaned down to gently kiss her wife, Bo automatically deepening the kiss, bringing her hand up to caress the blonde's cheek. They were startled apart by an impatient "ahem" from the carriage in front of them.

"I realise that this is all very lovey-dovey and cute, but I'm going off to study very hard for some very important exams very soon, and won't be back for four months."

Bo closed the carriage door, hugging her daughter through the open window, muttering. "Alright, alright, we get the hint." Kissing Hermione's head, she pulled back, saying "I'll miss you, kid. Be good. Say hi to Dyson for me."

The whistle sounded again, and the young witches and wizards who had been swarming all over the platform began climbing onto the train, yelling their goodbyes as they went. Lauren reached into the carriage for one last hug. As she pulled away, Hermione asked "Hey, do you two know of any places I can study in peace? The library always gets really busy around OWL's, and Harry and Ron and I could do with a little quiet. Those two get kind of stressed during exams."

"Yeah, I remember my OWL year." Bo grimaced. "The library was always packed, Kenzi always got bored and left to go hang out with Hale and Dyson, and Little Miss Brainiac here," she gestured to her wife "was nowhere to be found."

Lauren cut in. "I was doing some very important research! Besides," she smiled lovingly at Bo "you found me eventually." She turned to Hermione. "If you need somewhere quiet, go to the empty classrooms on the sixth floor. Peeves doesn't usually bother with them."

Hermione nodded. "Sixth floor. Got it."

The whistle sounded one last time, and the train started to slowly pull out of the station. Bo and Lauren waved frantically at their daughter as it picked up speed, Lauren calling out "Don't forget to write! Oh, and remember to eat a healthy selection of fruit and vegetables every day! And don't get into too much trouble this year!"

By now the train was almost out of the station, Hermione leaning out of the window waving furiously. "And one last thing!" Lauren yelled "Whatever you do, don't go into classroom number three on the sixth floor. There's an experiment that went just a little wrong during my fifth year. I'm not entirely sure I cleaned it all up properly."

Hermione grinned and nodded.

"Goodbye sweetie, we love you!"

"Love you too! See you at Christmas!"

She waved once more, before pulling her bushy head back inside the carriage, no doubt off to find her two best friends.

Bo and Lauren stood together amongst the crowds of parents and families, gazing at the train until it turned a corner and disappeared from sight. Bo placed her arm around her wife's shoulders as they turned to leave.

"Do you think she'll be alright?" Lauren asked nervously.

Bo squeezed her shoulder comfortingly as they walked through the barrier and back to their car. "Of course she will. With your brains and my obviously beauty-" Lauren playfully smacked her shoulder. "Hey! As I was saying, with my brains and your beauty, no, wait...that's not right..."

Lauren giggled, pulling the car keys out of her purse and opening the door, climbing in at the drivers side. Bo flopped into the passenger seat, pulling Lauren in for a chaste kiss. "What I meant to say was, Hermione is one brainy-ass kid, just like her brainy-ass, beautiful, amazing mother." She punctuated each pause with a quick kiss. "She'll be fine."

Lauren smiled happily, starting the engine. "Hearing you say that makes me feel so much better."

Checking the rear-view mirror, she backed out of her parking space. Bo waited until they were driving to ask "That experiment you did in classroom three. That would have been just around the time I was realising my...powers, wouldn't it?"

Lauren bit her bottom lip, keeping her eyes on the road. "Yep."

Bo nodded knowingly.

They sat in comfortable silence for a while, until they reached the motorway.

"Lauren?"

"MmmHmm?"

"Did I ever apologise for knocking that flask of highly flammable, very rare Carnivorous Toadstool acid onto the bunsen burner, and accidentally setting fire to the curtains of classroom three?"

"No, Bo, you did not."

"Oh. Well, I'm sorry I almost killed us both."

Lauren took one hand off the wheel, reaching over to pat her wife's knee.

"Don't worry honey, you more than made up for it that evening."

AN: Has a Lost Girl Harry Potter crossover ever been done? If so, someone please point me in the direction of it. (If not, I shall happily take it upon myself to recount the adventures of Doccubus at Hogwarts ;).) Thanks for reading and let me know what you think.


	2. Chapter 1

Bo Dennis sat fidgeting impatiently in the dark and dusty shop that was Olivanders. Gazing through the grimy window at the busy street outside, she watched a young, blond girl, about her own age, eagerly push open the door of Flourish and Blotts and enter with her mother.

Bo didn't get why the girl seemed so excited about books. She would much rather be playing quidditch, or duelling. She dragged her eyes from the girl as she heard footsteps approaching from the back of the shop.

Olivander approached her, holding out a long, thin wand, made of a dark brown wood. "Perhaps this one is more suited to you, Miss Dennis." Bo gazed around the battered shop guiltily, although in fairness it wasn't exactly her fault that the previous four wands hadn't really got on with her.

Carefully, she accepted the wand from the old man. At once, she felt a warm, tingling sensation flowing from her fingertips right along her arm.

Olivander smiled. "Yes, this wand seems to like you. Thankfully."

An enormous grin broke out on Bo's face, as she waved the wand gently, gasping in delight when a stream of red sparks came flying out of the end.

"Ten and a half inches, made of hawthorn with a core of unicorn hair. Unyielding."

Bo twirled the wand happily between her fingers, glancing up at Olivander and saying "Thank you, sir, it's wonderful."

"Yes," He replied. "And it's also ten galleons."

Bo paid Olivander, sticking her newly acquired wand jauntily into her belt and opening her Hogwarts letter to see what she had to buy next.

She groaned when she saw all the books she needed to buy. Tucking her dark hair behind her ear, she left Olivanders, crossed the street and pushed open the door to Flourish and Blotts. The bell tinkled as she entered, the door drifting shut and cutting off the noise of the crowd outside. Apart from the quiet murmurs of the elderly wizard standing at the counter talking to the shop owner, the shop was almost silent.

Bo grabbed one of the wicker shopping baskets that were stacked up by the door, and wandered the long aisles created by the shelves, searching for school books. She sighed as she saw the book she was looking for, the Standard Book Of Spells Grade One, perched on the very top shelf.

Dropping her basket on the floor, she stood on her tiptoes to try and reach it. She didn't notice the small blond girl she had spotted from Olivander's window until it was too late.

She leapt upwards, grabbing the spine of the book and falling back down, tripping backwards on her basket as she landed and into something warm and soft.

"Ooof!"

For a moment Bo lay still, trying to figure out if she had broken any bones, before coming to the realisation that she was lying on top of someone. From underneath her she heard a muffled "Umm, sorry to bother you, but this is not exactly the most comfortable position."

Bo gulped, rolling off the person and getting to her feet. "Sorry, sorry. I'm really sorry, I didn't see you there." She turned to help the young girl she had accidentally fallen on to her feet. The girl took her hand, pulling herself upright. She brushed her messy hair back, gazing at Bo with large brown eyes.

She held out her hand. In it was the Standard Book Of Spells Bo had been attempting to get off the shelf.

"You dropped this."

Bo grimaced, taking the book from her. "Yeah, sorry about that. Thanks for breaking my fall."

The blond laughed, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear and gazing at Bo with large brown eyes. Bo gazed back. The girl really was very pretty. Bo shook herself mentally. Stop staring. Instead she held out her own hand. "Hi, I'm Bo."

The other girl grinned, taking her hand and shaking it. "Lauren. Pleased to meet you, Bo."

Bo held onto her hand for a little longer than necessary, before dropping it, awkwardly searching for something interesting to say. "Umm, so, are you getting your stuff for Hogwarts?"

"Yep." Lauren smiled happily. "I couldn't believe it when Professor McCorrigan gave me my letter."

"Wait, the headmaster gave you your letter himself? Mine got delivered by some mangy old owl that almost dropped it in the bin, then fell into the sink."

Lauren looked confused. "Owl?"

"Yeah." Bo looked at her, head cocked to the side. "That's how all the post gets delivered." Suddenly, a look of recognition crossed her face. "Oh, are you a muggleborn?"

Lauren nodded, gazing at the floor. "Is that a bad thing?"

"What? No, of course not." She grinned. "It just means I have a lot to teach you." She picked up her basket. "I have to go and get the rest of my books. Come with and I'll tell you the basics of being a witch."

"And I can 'catch' you again when you fall."

Bo punched her playfully on the shoulder, noting how Lauren flinched and immediately regretting it. "Sorry, I didn't mean to-"

"No." Lauren interrupted, shaking her head. "It's fine." She folded her arms across her chest. "Shall we get your books then?"

Bo nodded, silently following her, worried she had upset her new friend already. They rounded the corner, Lauren plucking A History of Magic off its shelf and dropping it in Bo's basket.

"Do you have your letter?" she asked.

Bo nodded again, pulling the folded parchment out of her back pocket where she had stuffed it. Lauren unfolded it, scanning it quickly before heading towards the back of the shop.

"You know, I distinctly remember you telling me you were going to teach me about being a witch."

"Oh yeah, sorry." Bo shifted the basket to her left hand, using the other to scratch the back of her neck. "What do you want to know?"

Lauren stopped, taking Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them off the shelf and handing it to Bo, who tucked it into the basket. She tuned to face Bo again, leaning slightly on the bookshelf. "Err, the letter said something about first years not being allowed broomsticks. What would they be used for?"

"Quidditch, it's this really awesome wizard sport that's played on broomsticks. First years aren't allowed to join the house quidditch team," at this she frowned, obviously annoyed at the fact. "But we still get flying lessons."

"Wait, broomsticks can actually fly? But how? That basically defies any law of physics, ever."

Bo shrugged, reaching around Lauren for a copy of One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi. "I don't know, magic I guess."

"Okay, never mind." Lauren sensed she wasn't going to get any sort of scientific answer out of Bo. They moved on, wandering randomly through the shelves. "What about owls? Do they really deliver post?"

"Yeah, much faster than your muggle postal system. We've got an owl, his name's Toby. Mum doesn't send any letters though, and I don't really know anyone outside of local quidditch matches I've been to, and they all live really close to me, so he doesn't get much work. He's getting kinda fat and lazy." She stopped, turning eagerly to Lauren. "Hey, you should give me your address and we can write to each other! It'd be so cool."

"I don't know what my parents would say about an owl turning up at the house."

Bo pulled a biro out of her pocket, holding it out to Lauren. "Pretty please? I'm sure they won't mind. Come on, give my fat owl some exercise."

Lauren giggled at the adorable pleading pout on Bo's face, caving and taking the pen from her.

"Alright, alright. But how will he know where I live, can owls read? Stay still." Bo was wriggling at the tickling sensation of Lauren scrawling her address on her palm.

"I can't, it really tickles. And I don't know how owls know where to take stuff. Maybe they can read. You should ask the guy at Eeylop's."

"Eeylop's?"

"Owl emporium, just down the street." She accepted her pen back from the blond, gesturing out the window. As Bo stuck her pen back in her pocket, a short, mousy women carrying a bag of books approached them.

"Lauren, there you are." She noticed Bo. "Oh, have you made a friend? Hi, I'm Nancy."

Bo waved. "Bo. Pleased to meet you."

"Bo was just telling me about owls, how they deliver letters in the wizarding world." Lauren explained excitedly.

The woman raised an eyebrow. "Really? Well, you learn something new every day. Listen, Lauren, I'm going to go and get a cup of tea at that pub we came through to get here. Do you want to come with me or carry on shopping?"

"Umm," Lauren fidgeted. "Well, I have a few more things to get, so…"

The woman nodded knowingly, handing over a small bag that rattled with the sounds of coins. "Alright then. I'll meet you at The Leaky Cauldron in half an hour, okay?" Lauren nodded, accepting the bag eagerly. The woman headed out the door, saying over her shoulder. "It was nice to meet you, Bo. Be good you two, don't get in any trouble."

When she had left, Bo picked up her basket, heading over to the counter to pay. "Your mum seems nice," she commented.

Lauren frowned. "She's not my mum."

Bo paused in handing over her money. "Oh? I'm sorry, I didn't mean to assume…"

"No, no, It's alright." She turned away, scanning some edible bookmarks, 'for when you just can't put that book down!'

Bo sighed, running a hand through her hair. "That's twice I've upset you now, and we've only known each other ten minutes!"

Lauren put a bright purple bookmark back on the pile, turning gaze quizzically at Bo. "What makes you think I'm upset? Bo, you're the nicest person who has ever fallen on me, and I'm not saying that lightly." Bo giggled, and Lauren placed a hand on her shoulder, gazing sincerely into her eyes. "My life hasn't been great, but ever since I found out I'm a witch, it's getting a whole lot better. I finally feel like I belong, and you, you are not upsetting me in the slightest. You're making me feel even more at home."

"Really?"

Lauren squeezed her shoulder comfortingly. "Really."

A loud sniff from the shopkeeper interrupted their moment. They turned to see him dabbing at his eyes with a large white handkerchief. "I'm so sorry, girls," he sniffled. "That was just beautiful."

Bo and Lauren just stared at him, until Bo realised she still hadn't paid. Dropping some galleons on the counter, she picked up her books and looped her arm into Lauren's, guiding her out of the shop. As the bell tinkled jauntily, they could hear the shopkeeper murmuring to himself "Beautiful, just beautiful. They are going to be such great friends."

* * *

After exiting Flourish and Blotts, Bo pulled Lauren a little way down the street and into Eeylop's Owl Emporium. They were greeted by the sight, sound and smell of hundreds of owls of all different shapes and sizes. Lauren immediately rushed over to coo at a bunch of baby barn owls, still covered in a fluffy white down.

"Bo, look at them, aren't they adorable?"

Bo came up to stand at her shoulder, gazing down at the owls and agreeing with her new friend. Both the owls and Lauren were extremely adorable. From behind the counter a tall, handsome man approached them.

"You like barn owls, huh?"

Lauren beamed up at him, nodding. "I read a book all about them when I was younger, they're fascinating."

He nodded along with her, grinning at her enthusiasm. "Are you looking to buy a post owl? These guys are a bit young, but, if you follow me, we have a bunch who are ready to get out of here and start delivering letters."

Lauren's smile dropped. "Oh, no, I don't think my parents would like it very much if I bought an owl."

"Doesn't matter," the shop clerk shrugged. "You can still have a look at them, maybe even persuade your parents to reconsider."

Lauren brightened, following him to the back of the shop where three fine young barn owls perched sleepily, gazing at Lauren through half-closed eyes.

"Wow, they're beautiful, just look at those talons!" she began expounding happily on the hunting abilities of barn owls to the amused shop keeper. Watching Lauren get excited over the owls gave Bo an idea.

"I'll be back in a minute Lauren. Just, err, having a look around."

"Okay. Now, you see the beak…"

Bo smiled to herself, heading quickly out of the door, and towards The Leaky Cauldron.

* * *

Inside, she found Lauren's mother, Or step-mother. Bo hadn't wanted to ask exactly what relation the woman was to Lauren, but she could tell they were very close. She was sat at a table in the corner, sipping a cup of milky tea and flipping through one of Lauren's newly acquired text books.

Bo slipped into the seat opposite her. "Umm, Hi, Nancy? We met earlier, my name is Bo."

The woman looked up from her book, face breaking into a welcoming smile. "Hey. How are you?"

"I'm fine, thanks."

"Good to hear." Nancy looked around for her daughter. "Is Lauren with you?"

"No, I left her at Eeylop's fangirling over some barn owls."

"Ah, Lauren always did love barn owls, I remember when I bought her that book for her seventh birthday." She sipped her tea, gazing into the middle distance, reminiscing.

"I actually wanted to talk to you about that."

Nancy put her teacup gently back onto its saucer. "Oh?"

Bo took a deep breath and blurted out "Lauren thinks that you and her dad wouldn't let her have an owl in the house. I get, it, I do, they can be messy when they're not properly looked after. But I know that Lauren would really take care of an owl if she had one. And I think it would be really nice for her to have a connection with you and her dad whist she's away at Hogwarts, she'd be able to send letters quickly that would otherwise take days to reach you, and, and- yeah, I just…" she trailed off, fidgeting.

Nancy gazed at her over the rim of her teacup, a small smile on her face. "Bo, I am so glad Lauren found a friend in you. And you make a very convincing argument. I take it owls are allowed at Hogwarts?"

Bo nodded vigorously.

"Lauren's never had a pet before. Her dad never let her." A shadow crossed her face, but quickly cleared as she smiled. "But we don't need to listen to him anymore. I think it's about time Lauren had something other than herself to look after." She resolutely placed her empty teacup back on its saucer, standing and picking up her black handbag. "Can you show me the way to this Eeylop's?"

* * *

"…And Daniel said she'll catch all her own food, but she likes special treats like these occasionally, and she knows exactly where to go because of something called an 'innate homing ability'."

Bo watched Lauren skipping along happily, a beautiful, if slightly sleepy barn owl swaying on her shoulder.

They reached The Leaky Cauldron, Lauren turning to Bo and fiercely hugging her. "Thank you so much, Bo," she murmured in her ear.

"No problem. Oh, wait, before you go…" she pulled her biro from her pocket, grabbing Laurens free hand and quickly scrawling her address on her palm. "See," she said as Lauren squirmed. "Told you it tickled. Now you don't have any excuse not to write to me." She turned to the owl, gazing solemnly at it. "Make sure she writes to me, yeah?" The owl blinked, and Bo, Nancy and Lauren laughed.

Grabbing her shopping, Bo hugged Lauren one more time. "See you at Hogwarts, Lauren."

Lauren sighed happily. "See you at Hogwarts."

AN: You guys are seriously amazing. Thank you so much for the reviews, the follows, everything. Just a side note, this will be set in the gangs fifth year, but for the first few chapters I just want to get a bit of backstory down. Let me know what you think, reviews make me happy :). Until next time...


	3. Chapter 2

It was with increasing uncertainty that Lauren Lewis approached platform nine of Kings Cross Station. As she walked her gaze flitted between the big clock on the wall, what was - in her opinion at least - a rather confusing train ticket, and the well-read scrap of parchment in her hand.

In the week that she had known her, Lauren had learned to read Bo's messy, scrawling handwriting, and she was almost certain that the untidy p.s. at the bottom of her most recent letter said "_Oh, before I forget. I'll meet you at_ _platform nine at quarter to eleven, show you through the barrier. It can be a bit, umm, what's the word you would use?" _Here Bo had made several failed attempts at spelling, each crossed out more viciously than the last, until "_Dawnting. You know, scary. I might take you up on that offer of a pocket dictionary after all! Anyway, can't wait to see you, Lots of Love, Bo."_

Lauren smiled at Bo's spelling of the word daunting, but in this case, she had to agree with its use. Behind her, her step-mother pushed her loaded trolley for her. "Lauren, are you sure that ticket says platform nine and three quarters?"

"Yep."

Coming to stand beside her in front of a blank stone wall, she said "Well, we'll just have to wait for Bo to explain then. What time did she say she was coming?"

"Quarter to."

Her step-mother nodded, glancing at the clock on the wall. In her cage, Lauren's barn owl, whom she had named Hen (short for Henry (Gray, author of Lauren's favourite human anatomy textbook,) which had been shortened even further from Henrietta, an idea put forward both by her step-mother and, surprisingly, Bo), hooted sleepily. This was met by the hooting of another owl, and through the crowd of commuters Lauren recognised Toby, perched precariously on Bo's head and blinking excitedly at the suit-clad, briefcase-toting muggles gazing curiously at him.

Lauren had to stifle a laugh as she saw her brunette friend approaching, laden down with a large assortment of bags and dragging a huge trunk behind her.

The minute hand of the clock reached fourteen minutes to eleven as she reached her new friend and, dropping her luggage with several loud bangs on the floor, flung her arms around her and almost yelled in her ear "I'm so, so sorry I'm late! I dropped Toby's cage and the door kinda broke." Unwrapping her arms from their inadvertent choke-hold on the blond she rooted amongst her luggage, pulling out a cage with the door hanging off by one of its hinges. Toby, unbalanced by the sudden movement, fluttered off her head and perched on top of Hen's cage where he ruffled his wings before settling down and promptly falling asleep.

Bo glanced up at the clock, then bent down to grab her luggage. "Come on, train's going to leave soon."

Lauren took hold of the handle of her trolley. "So where is platform nine and three quarters then?"

Bo gestured nonchalantly to the wall behind her. "Through there." Piling her bags onto Lauren's trolley, she grabbed hold of the handle with her. Lauren shook her head, holding up her hands and backing away.

"Through a brick wall!? It's impossible, Bo!"

"Not impossible Lauren. Magic." She grabbed her friends hands in hers. "A few days ago you learned that broomsticks could fly. Sometimes physics doesn't apply to this world, Lauren. But the alternative is so much cooler."

She felt the anxiety leave her friend, and squeezed her hands. "Do you trust me?" Gazing into those deep brown eyes Lauren couldn't say no. She nodded, her throat dry, and turned towards the wall.

* * *

She emerged, gasping, into bright sunlight. Cracking open her eyes, she saw a beautiful red steam train, a trail of thick smoke curling out of its funnel. There were young wizards everywhere, talking to their parents, talking to each other, climbing into the long carriages, there was one boy chasing a toad that was desperately hopping to freedom.

A porter approached to take Lauren's trolley, and Bo suddenly appeared and grabbed Hen's cage. "Don't want her locked up with all the luggage do we?"

Blinking dazedly, Lauren shook her head, partly in response to Bo's rhetorical question, mostly to clear her head. Turning to the barrier, she asked "Where's my step-mother?" Bo came to stand at her shoulder. "Not sure. Maybe muggles can't get through the barrier?"

Lauren looked shocked and upset. "You mean she's stuck back there, all alone? I have to go back." She made to head back through the barrier, but just then her step-mother appeared, head down, eyes closed tightly. Bo pulled Lauren aside just in time to avoid the older woman careering into her.

Nancy stopped just short of them. "Umm, Mrs Lewis?" she turned towards Bo's voice, eyes still closed. "Please tell me I'm didn't run head first into a solid brick wall and am only now regaining consciousness."

"Nope, you're on platform nine and three quarters."

"Oh good."

She opened her eyes, grinning at the two eleven year-olds. "Professor McCorrigan did say I would be able to get through the barrier, despite being a, what do you call it, a muggle?"

Bo nodded. "Well, it's a good job you can. Lauren was just about to go back for you."

Just then, a whistle blew. Bo gestured towards the train. "Come on, it'll be going in a minute."

Lauren ran to Nancy and hugged her tightly. "I'll be back at Christmas."

"I'll be waiting."

"Don't… don't let him boss you around anymore."

Nancy pulled back slightly, gazing down at her daughter. Lauren gazed back solemnly. "He isn't going to be a part of our lives anymore Lauren." She knelt down level to the child's deep brown eyes. "I'm leaving him. We're leaving him. We don't ever have to see him again and now you can grow up safe and happy. I'm only sorry that it took so long."

Lauren wordlessly hugged her tightly, burying her face in her shoulder. Relief flooded her. She had hoped against hope when Professor McCorrigan had told her who she was, her mother would finally be able to escape her father. She knew the older woman only stayed for her sake. Now that she was safe and away at Hogwarts, she could leave, start again without him.

Somewhere, a clock chimed eleven. Lauren and Nancy pulled apart, both wiping away tears they didn't want the other to see. Bo took her friends hand, nodded to Nancy, and they hurried onto the train. It slowly began pulling out of the station, children waving and calling out to goodbye's to their parents, Lauren hanging out of the window to kiss her mother one last time.

Steam hissed, the train's wheel's creaked and once more a whistle filled the station. Then they were out of the station and the Hogwarts Express was picking up speed. Bo wrapped her arms around Lauren for a few moments, then together they turned to find a compartment.

* * *

"Every where's full," Bo complained as she and Lauren searched fruitlessly for an empty compartment. She switched Hen's cage to her other hand as the combined weight of two owls was making her arms ache.

"Ah, here we go." They stopped outside an empty compartment, Bo shouldering open the door and dumping Hen on an empty seat. Toby toppled from his perch and, hooting grumpily, waddled over to an armrest to perch and try to fall asleep again.

Bo flopped into a seat, Lauren sitting slightly more gracefully next to her and pulling out a well-read paperback from her coat pocket.

There was a knock on the window, and Bo and Lauren turned to see a tall boy with blond, curly hair, and a slightly shorter black boy, sporting a stylish hat. They entered the carriage, squeezing in opposite Bo and Lauren, grinning.

"Hey there," said the blond boy. "I'm Dyson and this is Hale," he gestured to his friend. "Can we sit here? The only other free compartment is full of Slytherins." He shuddered exaggeratedly and he and Hale laughed.

Lauren nudged Bo. "What's a Slytherin?"

Bo began to reply, but Dyson loudly cut her off. "What do you mean, you don't know what a Slytherin is?" He turned to Bo. "Is she kidding me or is she just really slow?"

Bo caught hold of Lauren before she could throw herself at Dyson, her book dropping forgotten to the floor. "Slow?! Who are you calling slow you pretentious, half-witted little _mongrel?_ I'm obviously far cleverer than you if you can't even tell if someone is addressing you or not."

Dyson looked shocked for a moment, but then started laughing. "Oh, feisty little bitch aren't we?"

Bo growled, letting go of Lauren and lunging for the boy. "Don't you dare call her that!" she drew back a fist and let it fly, the sound of it smacking against Dyson's jaw resounding through the carriage.

"Ouch! What the hell was that for!?" He saw Bo raise her fist again and raised his hands in surrender. "Okay, okay, I'm sorry."

"Don't apologise to me, apologise to her."

He turned to Lauren, whose face showed a strange mix of anger and awe. Wiping a small trickle of blood from his lip, he said "I'm sorry I called you a bitch. I didn't mean it."

"Good," Bo replied for Lauren. "Now get out. Go sit with the Slytherins, you'd get on well." Dyson slunk out of the carriage, rubbing his jaw. After a moment, Hale got up and followed him. He stopped at the door, turning to the girls and saying. "I'm sorry about him, It's that time of the month," before pursing his lips and heading after his friend.

"Stupid oaf," Bo muttered, taking her seat again. She winced when her knuckles knocked against the arm rest. Lauren gently took the injured hand in hers, gently prodding the bruised knuckles. "Can you straighten your fingers for me?" she asked. Bo complied, hissing in pain. Lauren gazed up at her, brown eyes full of concern. "What's the diagnosis, Doc?" Bo joked.

"I think your knuckles are only bruised, but you should put an ice pack on them to reduce the swelling." She sighed. "Bo, why did you hit him? You don't need to feel obliged to punch people who upset me."

"Yes I do. You're my friend. People say mean stuff about you, I'm gonna hit them. Besides, I couldn't let you hurt your hand if you punched him."

Lauren laughed, shaking her head and resting Bo's hand back on her knee. "Thank you for your concern Bo."

"No problem."

"But seriously Bo," her grin was gone, her face solemn. "Thank you. For standing up for me. No one ever has before."

They held each other's gaze for a moment, before "Anything from the trolley?" sounded from down the hallway. Bo's eyes lit up, and she rummaged in her pockets for some money. Lauren stilled her hand. "Allow me. It's the least I can do to thank you for smacking that boy for me."

* * *

The sunset blazed orange through the carriage windows as the train rattled onwards. In their compartment, Bo and Lauren slouched tiredly amongst the remains of a wonderfully unhealthy lunch.

Gazing at the rapidly darkening sky, Bo listened to the sound of turning pages as Lauren read from the book she had brought with her for the journey. Rousing herself from her stupor, she stood and stretched. Earlier she had fetched their robes from their trunks, and now she reached into the overhead compartment and started to change into them.

"You should probably start getting changed too Lauren, I think we're nearly there."

* * *

Half an hour later, the train pulled into Hogsmead station. There was an almighty rush of noise as people began to exit the train, owls, cats and toads adding to the din with various hoots, meows and croaks. Bo grabbed Lauren's hand, the other was holding Hen's cage. Toby was perched on her shoulder again, refreshed from his nap and watching the hustle and bustle around him with bright yellow eyes.

"Come on, our luggage will be brought up."

Following the crowd, they tripped onto the station. "Firs' years over here," boomed a loud voice. They followed it to a group of nervous looking eleven-year olds, all crowded around the largest man Lauren had ever seen.

"Everyone here?" he asked. "Right. My name's Hagrid, I'm gamekeeper at Hogwarts." He surveyed the crowd. "Follow me, we're going by boat to the castle."

They walked a little way through the darkness. Once they caught sight of Dyson, laughing with a haughty blond, a pale, skinny boy who was waving his arms around menacingly, to shouts of laughter from a few others, but they lost sight of him as they rounded a corner and were herded by Hagrid into wooded row boats.

Bo and Lauren clambered into a boat with a short girl with dark hair and a sulky expression. "Hi, I'm Bo." Bo held out her hand to the girl, who shook it. "Kenzi."

"I'm Lauren," Lauren offered from beside Bo.

"Delighted, I'm sure," was the reply.

Bo was taken aback slightly by the girl's less than enthusiastic greeting, but the cause soon became apparent.

Sighing, she dipped her injured hand into the cold, black waters of the lake. Alarmed, Kenzi hissed "What are you doing? There's a giant squid in this lake, that is apparently very fond of humans."

Bo withdrew her hand, stifling a scream when the boat suddenly rocked. But it wasn't a giant squid attack.

"Kenzi, we meet again."

Kenzi groaned. "Not you again. What do you want this time?"

Dyson faked offence. "Kenzi, why are you so upset? Is it because of the giant squid? Because I'm only sixty per cent sure that it isn't going to capsize and devour us." He laughed.

Kenzi blanched, hands gripping the side of the boat as it moved off across the dark water. From beside Lauren Bo growled "Dyson. Haven't you learned it's rude to tease people?"

Dyson jumped. "Bo. Didn't see you there. I wasn't teasing her. I..errr." He trailed off. Bo tapped the side of her face with her good hand. "How's the jaw Dyson?"

She could see the bruise standing out purple against his skin.

He locked eyes with her defiantly. Bo had to admit she was impressed he wasn't cowering in the bottom of the boat yet. Her glare sometimes had that effect on people.

Locked in a staring contest, they both jumped when Kenzi and Lauren gasped, turning to see a huge castle, lights blazing from each window, standing out against the night sky.

"It's beautiful," Lauren whispered.

Bo took her hand. "Welcome to Hogwarts."

* * *

They were ushered inside by a stern old witch, and made to stand by the huge double doors that Lauren assumed led to the dining room. From behind them she could hear the chatter of students and the scraping of benches. Lauren fidgeted nervously as silence fell.

She could hear a muffled voice addressing the students. It took her a moment to recognise Professor McCorrigan's calm, collected, tones. Beside her, Bo tapped the fingers of her good hand nervously on her thigh.

The talking stopped, and after a heartbeat, the doors swung open, and the first years were shepherded into the great hall. Lauren gazed in wonder at the ceiling, making a mental note to ask Bo how the candles stayed up in the air. Magic, no doubt would be the answer.

The hall was huge, four long tables stretching from one end to the other, the students sat at each seemed all to be in the same house, a sea of faces and bodies clad in black robes all turned to watch the first years shuffle nervously towards the table at the far end of the hall, at which sat stern professors.

After what seemed like an eternity they reached the end of the hall and stood there huddled close together, not quite sure what they were meant to be doing. Lauren could see a stool with a rather battered hat resting on it.

On the train, Bo had explained how sorting worked, what each of the four houses were and what they stood for. Lauren had thought that Hufflepuff sounded like a nice place to be. Bo however was adamant that they would both be in Gryffindor.

The elderly witch from earlier (Lauren thought her name was Professor McGonagall,) began reading names from a scroll of parchment. Lauren watched nervously as _Avery, Jackson_, a short boy with bright blue eyes, sat trembling on the stool, the hat lowered onto his head.

She jumped when a rip near the hat's brim opened and a voice boomed "Hufflepuff!"

One of the tables, it's students wearing yellow ties, a house crest with an inexplicably noble looking badger sewn onto their black robes, began cheering and clapping. Jackson took the hat off his head and trotted over to sit with them, students clapping him on the back and shaking his hand.

This continued in the same vein for some time. For some reason Dyson was sorted into Gryffindor, at which Bo murmured to Lauren "I think the hat's broken." Hale followed soon after. The haughty blond Dyson had been with when they got off the train, Tamsin, was sorted into Slytherin, along with the skinny pale boy Vex. Kenzi earned a few good-natured laughs when she forgot to take the hat off her head, but was soon running back to the Gryffindor table.

"_Dennis, Bo", _called Professor McGonagall. Bo squeezed Lauren's hand, before letting it go and taking her place on the stool. She felt the hat lowered onto her head, jumped slightly when she heard it whispering in her ear. "Well, well, well, look what we have here. That dark heart certainly belongs in Slytherin, you've great potential for evil dear."

Bo whispered from between clenched teeth "I'm not evil."

"Oh, not yet, not for a while. But it's there, and it's not going away. But then again, neither is that inherent goodness. Maybe that will win out eventually. Who knows, better put you in…" She heard its booming voice proclaiming to the gathered students – "Gryffindor!"

Sighing in relief, she ripped it from her head and almost ran to the cheering Gryffindor table, taking an empty seat opposite Dyson and Hale, who, despite earlier, congratulated her. She turned to watch the rest of the sorting.

She crossed her fingers beneath the table when it was Lauren's turn, the large hat slipping over her ears and almost covering her eyes. She knew that Lauren would be in Gryffindor, nobody she knew had a bigger, or braver heart.

Beneath the hat Lauren listened as it whispered "Lauren Lewis, Lauren Lewis. My, you've not had the best of starts have you? But you're brave. Loyal. Your friends are lucky they have you. Especially Bo."

Lauren frowned when it mentioned Bo, but it disappeared when it yelled "Gryffindor!" Grinning happily, she leapt of the seat, pausing only to pull the hat of her head and ran to join Bo at the Gryffindor table.

Bo pulled her into a hug "I'm so glad we're in the same house."

"I remember you saying most adamantly that we would both easily be in Gryffindor."

"Yeah, 'course." She released her, a huge smile plastered on her face, mirrored on Lauren's. "But I'm still glad."

As the sorting finished, and gasps of delight filled the hall as delicious food appeared on the tables, Lauren sat smiling, watching as Bo exchanged banter with Dyson, Hale and Kenzi, happy that she was finally somewhere she belonged.

AN: I think someone mentioned the whole age difference thing, but I decided to have all the main characters in the same year, it works better with the semblance of a plot I have come up with. Besides, Dyson is like seven hundred years old in the show anyway. Speaking of, Dyson is a bit of an ass in this chapter, but I will make him more in character at some point. (But not so much that Bo feels the need to apologise for hitting him.) Thanks for reading and let me know what you think.


	4. Chapter 3

It was a warm night, towards the back end of summer. Warm, despite the often unreliable nature of late August weather.

Heat left over from the stifling afternoon still clung to the dry earth, the rest rising in waves towards the clear velvet sky. A soft, hot breeze drifted through the thick air, whispering over long, dry stems of grass, murmuring its secrets to the sleepy scattering of drooping wildflowers and empty beer bottles that inhabited the wasteland behind the Leyland Estate.

Three high rise blocks of drab concrete flats clawed for the sky, steadfastly ignoring the streets below, streets soaked in the sodium glow of the lamps - backed onto a rough triangle about a mile and three quarters long. A triangle of broken glass and dirt and rubbish, the occasional smouldering wreck of a stolen, smashed up car.

Towards the centre and a little to the left stood Shady Grove - barely more than a few stunted trees and crumbling blocks of concrete, left over from who knew what.

It was the usual hang out for Shawn and Davey and Tara, Jess, sometimes her brother Jake but not always - and Lauren, when she was home.

And she was home now, sprawled under the stars with Tara and Shawn and Jess, swigging cheap beer and counting down the days until September.

Davey flopped down beside her swiping his messy brown hair out of his green eyes, dumping another six pack and a packet of cigarettes out of a plastic bag onto the battered tartan picnic rug they had spread over the dirt.

At seventeen he was the oldest of the group, and being the only one who had thought to bring his fake I.D that evening had been relegated to the 'Booze and Fags Run.'

Deftly cracking open a can he handed it to Lauren with a mock bow. Difficult to do when sitting but he managed it.  
"Can her ladyship handle one more drink tonight?"

Sniffing the cheap, bitter liquid, she wrinkled her nose. "Maybe I could if it was anything better than this shit."

Davey gasped in mock indignation. "Lauren! I'm shocked, how could you use such language? I thought that fancy boarding school you go to would have taught you to speak better than this."

Raising an eyebrow, Lauren merely took a huge gulp of her beer, wiping the back of her hand across her mouth and resting the can in her lap.

"Yeah, and I thought you could pick out better booze than this."

They laughed at that, Davey throwing his arm around her shoulders like he always did when they were sat close together.

When she was younger she had had a bit of a crush on him, but it had quickly faded. He was now no more than just a friend to her, like any of the others.

She sat sipping her drink, content to watch them talk and laugh. Tara leaned back against a tree, staring glassily at the stars. Poking a finger in the vague direction of the sky, she said "Look, a shooting star, everyone make a wish!"

Lauren didn't like to point out it was in actual fact a helicopter. Instead she closed her eyes and wished with all her might that she could be back at Hogwarts. With Bo.

Only a few more days, and she would be gone. She hated her double life. During term time she was Lauren: boffin, nerd, brainiac. Friend. Herself. Real. She was where she belonged, with her friends and her studies.

The holidays - well, here she was Lauren: lying on a picnic rug in the middle of a council estate, drinking shitty beer with a group of people who were the cast outs from the society the rest of the world didn't give a damn about.

She didn't know which Lauren was the real Lauren. She hoped it was Hogwarts Lauren.

"Hey, Laur, wake up." Jess snapped her fingers a couple of times in front of her face. Blinking, Lauren straightened up.

"You playing or what?"

"Umm, what?"

"Truth or dare, dummy."

Knocking back the dregs of her beer she chucked the empty can somewhere behind her, making a mental note to pick it up and bin it before she left.

"Sure, why not?"

She rubbed the bridge of her nose, watching as Tara dared Shawn to chug the remaining can of beer.

Coughing and spluttering, he only made it halfway before dropping it in the dirt, the sticky liquid forming a puddle in the middle of the circle.

Lauren thought it a waste of alcohol.

"Forfeit!" Davey yelled from his place beside Lauren.

"What's forfeit this time?" Tara asked.

Davey thought for a moment, before a wicked grin settled over his handsome features.

"Take off one article of clothing for every dare not completed or every truth not told."

Wolf whistles greeted the statement. Lauren watched hazily as, grumbling, Shawn pulled off his cap and threw it on the ground.

"Okay, who's next?"

Tara chose the safe option, Truth.

"Have you... ever made out with a member of the same sex before?"

Tara threw a twig at Davey, who ducked and laughed.

"Perv. Yeah, this one time. Who's next?"

"Who was it?" asked Shawn.

"Not part of the question" Tara sing-songed. "Who's next?"

"Ah ah," Davey cautioned. "I think this is a forfeit. Nowhere in the question does it state that you _don't_ have to tell us all the gory details. Now spill, unless you want to forfeit."

Tara scowled at him, but answered anyway.

"I was at this party a few weeks ago. It was loud and there was some really good alcohol. Like, really good. Not like the cut price crap _you_ bring back. Anyhow, I'd had a few shots, and I see this gorgeous red head across the room. Like, she had legs up to here," she stretched her arm exaggeratedly above her head. "She looked a bit lonely, so I went over to her, you know, just to say Hi, and next thing I know, I'm up against the wall full on making out with her. Can't say I complain either, she was hot."

Davey whistled, Jess and Shawn were applauding.

"Did it go any further?" Lauren asked.

"Nah, she got bored after a bit, and I passed out somewhere."

She shrugged, lighting a cigarette and inhaling. "Okay, that's me done." She blew out a steady stream of smoke into the night. "Next?"

They continued for a while, Davey, dressed in only shorts and a t-shirt, lost his trainers when he refused to climb a tree and sing the National Anthem - "I aint no Royalist bitch."

Finally, it was Lauren's turn. Chugging down the last of Davey's beer she said "Dare. But let's ramp it up a bit. You lot are pussy's when it comes to dares."

Sober Lauren, even at fifteen would never have agreed to this, much less suggested it, but she saved sober Lauren for Hogwarts, for Bo.

It shocked her, sometimes, that this was who she was. Extremely clever for her tender age, granted. And a witch no less, able to do things her muggle friends wouldn't, couldn't believe. Here, she was tethered, by people who didn't know, people who thought that she had a rich dad somewhere who paid to pack her off to a fancy boarding school come term time, but who couldn't be bothered to look after her in the holidays.

Truth be told, she didn't even know where her dad was.

During the holidays she couldn't be free the way she had become accustomed to at Hogwarts, so she had to come up with another solution. And this was it, she thought bitterly through the haze of alcohol. Clever little Lauren, finding new friends and a different life to distract her for a few months whist she waited to get back to Hogwarts.

Shaking her head to get a grip on this particular reality, she watched as the group shrugged, Davey nodding. "Yeah, they have been a bit boring. Come on guys, think up sexy cool stuff from now on."

Jess, having consumed the most alcohol after Lauren piped up. "Make out with someone in the group for two minutes. Like, proper go for it."

Lauren shrugged. "Okay. Who?"

"Err... Oi, Shawn, chuck us that beer can you spilled earlier." She placed it on the ground, giving it a good hard spin. Lauren watched as it spun in the dirt, watched as it slowed, slowed, the ring pull finally coming to rest pointing directly at Tara.

"Ooh, looks like you got the good end of the deal Laur," said Davey as Jess and Shawn wolf-whistled. "She's got the experience."

Lauren just nodded, her throat suddenly dry. Across the circle, Tara winked at her. She was a good-looking girl, a year older than Lauren herself, with long straight brunette locks, sparkling blue eyes and a winning smile.

A smile that could very easily turn sultry given the chance.

She reminded Lauren a little of Bo, except Bo's eyes weren't blue. Gazing at Tara, Lauren decided Bo would be pretty with blue eyes.

Lauren gulped, subconsciously wiping her hand across her mouth as her gaze met Tara's.

Davey thumped her on the back, "Go on, kiss the girl. Or forfeit, it's up to you."

Lauren hated forfeiting, hated giving up on anything. So, swallowing her feelings she crawled on her hands and knees across the circle, forgetting all about the puddle of spilled beer until it soaked through her jeans. Forgetting it again when Tara met her halfway, leaning in to press her lips against the younger girl's. Her mouth, firm and insistent, tasted of beer and cigarette smoke.

Lauren felt her eyes closing, her lips begin moving of their own accord. Her hand came up to cradle Tara's cheek, her tongue running experimentally along the other girls' lower lip.

In the background, she could hear a series of low whistles, but all she could concentrate on was the feeling of Tara opening her mouth to her, a small moan vibrating in her throat when their tongues met, battling each other for dominance.

Pulling back slightly, Lauren took a deep breath.

"Two minutes, remember," Tara panted against her chin. Lauren nodded, bringing her right hand up to fist in Tara's hair, pressing her lips up against hers as once again their tongues danced around each other, breath coming in short, ragged gasps. Tara's hand came to rest at her waist, the other running up her spine deliciously to cup the back of her neck, pulling her closer.

Behind her she heard Shawn yelling "Time! That's enough ladies, dare over," but Lauren just pulled the other girl impossibly close, dragging her teeth over her bottom lip before releasing it with a pop, finally falling back to gasp for air.

"Wow." Tara ran a hand through her dishevelled hair. "Girl, where the hell did you learn to kiss like that?"

Lauren just shrugged, scratching the back of her neck where Tara's hand had been moments before.

"Just around, I guess." She looked at the floor, refraining to admit that she had never kissed anyone before. Unless you counted Ian that one time behind the Herbology greenhouses, but she didn't.

Suddenly tired, she got up, wiping futilely at her jeans. Finally just giving up and hoping the stains would wash out. "I'm going to bed," she muttered, before starting off towards the estate.  
Her friends' calls to come back faded and were replaced by the sounds of sirens wailing in the distance, cars screaming along the main road. Her mind was fuzzy, her feet moving automatically. They carried her through the door of Block Three, into the lift that stank of piss and could never quite make it past the tenth floor, up the remaining flight of stairs to the flat she shared with her mother.

Through the door covered in peeling red paint, through the tiny living room and into her own cupboard sized bedroom.

She barely acknowledged the paracetamol and the glass of water she had left as a precaution on her desk earlier, instead practically fell into bed fully clothed, asleep before her head hit the pillow.

* * *

Miles away in her own, much larger bed, Bo tossed and turned, eyelids flickering rapidly as an odd, part moan part growl left her lips.

She awoke suddenly with a cry, sitting bolt upright and staring unseeingly round the room. Shaking her head to rid herself of the dream - or had it been a nightmare? No, it had definitely felt good. Like they always did, since the beginning of summer. She lay back again in the darkness for a moment, trying to fall back asleep. It was no use.

She padded carefully to her desk, sitting and running a hand through her long hair, trying to come to a decision.

Toby was out hunting, she'd have to wait for him to get back to send the letter. But there was no harm in writing it now. Flicking on her desk lamp, she picked up her pen and started scribbling.

_Dear Lauren, thanks for your letter last week explaining about that potions thingy. Listen, I know it's only a few days until we go back, and I totally get it if you think it's a bad idea, but I'd love for you to come stay for a bit. I have something important to tell you. It can probably wait, but-_

Here she paused, biting her lip in concentration.

_-but, well, I can't really explain it. I just need you here. Send me back a reply pronto. Miss you, see you whenever, Love Bo._

Folding the letter haphazardly and shoving it into an envelope, she sealed it, leaning back in her chair to wait for Toby. Trying to ignore the hunger that had been growing inside of her all summer.

* * *

Lauren received the letter the next morning, along with a pounding headache. Groaning, she rolled over, shoving her face into the pillow and regretting everything. As she invariably did when home for the holidays.

She felt paper press against her forehead. She wanted to swipe it to the floor, she really did. But it was probably a letter from Bo.

Still with her face buried in the pillow, she fiddled with the letter, ripping open the envelope. She braced herself, almost crying out when, lifting her head, the sunlight streaming through the windows stabbed through her half closed eyes, intensifying her headache tenfold.

Rolling out of bed and into the relative darkness underneath it, she once again opened her eyes to read.

* * *

_Dear Bo. I would love to come and stay, even for a few days. You have no idea how utterly boring it's been this summer. This 'important' thing. Could you give any specifics? If it's anything I can help with, I'm sure I have a few books that might possibly relate to it, and even help. I'll be there as soon as I can anyway. I must say I am glad you offered. I much prefer your place in the country to the Leyland estate. You can actually see the stars out there._

_See you as soon as possible. With love, Lauren._

* * *

AN: So, so, so sorry I haven't updated in ages. My excuse is that A-levels are a complete bitch, and I hope that this mysterious someone sending Tamsin all this creepy 'The Wanderer' stuff sends her the way of whoever marks the chemistry EMPA's. Anyway, my thanks to everyone sticking with this, Lauren will be back to her usual nerdy adorable self in the next chapter, I just like messing around with her backstory. Let me know what you think (especially about this Karen Beattie stuff (backstory, Yay!), and that haircut. *Shudders.*) Until next time.


	5. Chapter 4

Lauren clutched the plastic cup of cheap train station coffee in both hands, gazing unseeingly out over the crowd and listening to the occasional announcement echoing from the intercom and bouncing off vaulted ceilings.

A man in a grey suit, the buttons of his crinkled white shirt done up haphazardly wrong, the tails still sticking out in places, hurried past, his expensive leather briefcase knocking painfully against her knee.

"Watch it!" She muttered even as he sprinted towards platform twelve, totally ignoring her.  
She sighed, her gaze returning to her cup of coffee, long since turned the cold side of lukewarm.

"The next train to arrive at platform twelve is the eight forty five express train to Haventhorpe."

Lauren slung her large rucksack over her shoulder, throwing the coffee cup in the nearest bin and following the man in the grey suit to platform twelve.

The train pulled in and slowed to a halt, the doors opening to let out a steady stream of bland commuters.

The man in the grey suit, having regained some of his composure (but still with his buttons done unevenly up), climbed into the first carriage, Lauren following. She flopped into a seat by the window, not too far from the doors.

Being someone who didn't appreciate random strangers sitting next to her on any mode of public transport, she left her rucksack on the remaining seat.

Settling back in her seat she leaned her head back and closed her eyes, knowing full well the journey to Haventhorpe was a long one.

* * *

_Several hours later…_

Lauren practically jumped off the train at the tiny station of Haventhorpe. It pulled away quickly, and for a moment she watched it go, before turning and scanning the area. She had been here before. To visit Bo during the Christmas holidays of their third year, after the girl had suffered a bad accident falling from her broom during a quidditch match against Slytherin and breaking her leg. Even now she maintained that Tamsin had had a hand in it, and certainly, the blond had looked even smugger than usual as she and her team mates walked off the pitch after winning the match. Lauren had glimpsed her briefly through the snow and her tears, clutching Bo's hand as her mercifully unconscious body was carried to the castle.

Bo had recovered quickly, under the ministrations of Madam Pomffrey, but Lauren still felt the need to visit over the holidays. Help her with the work she had missed whilst in the hospital wing, is what she told herself. To make sure her friend was alright, is what she didn't.

Haventhorpe station was one of those beautiful little country stations one reads about so often in Enid Blyton novels. Only one platform, backed by a tall white fence, surrounded by startlingly green shrubbery that whispered in the cool breeze. The sky was blue overhead, a few clouds scudding across it. The sounds of the train had long since faded into silence, a silence broken by the sweet song of a blackbird perched on a branch of a silver birch tree on the opposite side of the track.

The blackbird sounded a shrill warning, drowned out by a loud cry of "Lauren!" Lauren turned to see Bo haring towards her, a huge grin on her pretty face. She'd grown over the summer. Filled out a bit more, Lauren noticed, before quickly bringing her eyes back to meet those of her excited friend. Bo reached her, crushing her in a warm hug.

"I'm so glad you could make it, I've missed you so much."

Lauren laughed, extricating herself from Bo's arms. "You'll miss me more if you squeeze all the breath out of me!"

"Sorry," Bo backed off slightly, picking up Lauren's rucksack and slinging it over her shoulder. They started walking, leaving the station and crossing the small country road that ran behind it, taking a barely visible path into the woods that lead eventually to Bo's large house.

"So, How've you been?" Bo asked.

Lauren shrugged. "Oh, you know. Alright, I guess."

Bo frowned. This wasn't like Lauren, normally the girl would expound at great length about all the great books she'd read over the summer, or what new experiments she'd tried. Bo shrugged it off; probably Lauren was tired from the long journey.

"Okay, cool."

The trees grew thinner, and Lauren began to see the meadows that spread out like patchwork around Bo's house. She paused for a moment at the top of the stile leading into a field, drinking in the view around her. In the distance she could see the converted barn where Bo and her nearly always absent mother lived. All around were fields, owned by a local farmer. A skylark fluttered happily high in the air, its song drifting towards their ears on the breeze.

Accepting the hand Bo offered, Lauren climbed down, and for a while they walked through tall grass in silence, basking in the others company.

The footpath took them through a field of wheat, swinging abruptly to carry on alongside the wire fence that separated Bo's front garden from the farmers land. They walked through the gate marked 'Private', and across the gravel driveway. A stone pathway crossed the lush lawn kept neat and tidy by a gardener who came up once a week from the small village of Haventhorpe. Bo pushed open the front door, made of heavy, bleached wood studded with iron, and together they entered the cool shade of the house.

Bo unceremoniously dumped Lauren's rucksack on one of four chairs laid out around an expensive looking oak table, turning to face her friend. "Welcome to casa de Bo. Again. Want a drink?"

Lauren nodded, and Bo padded across the worn floorboards to a large fridge, grabbing two glasses from the cupboard on her way. "Okay, we have: orange juice, apple juice… ooh, cranberry juice," she poured herself some of the pink liquid as she continued "err, lemonade, coke-"

Lauren interrupted. "Lemonade's fine, thanks."

Bo tossed her a can of sprite, and closed the fridge door, placing the spare glass back in the cupboard. "Right. Mum's off with James again, don't know when or if we'll see her, so what do you want to do? She grinned and wiggled her eyebrows. "We have the place to ourselves."

Lauren gaped for a moment. "I, umm… Your bedroom?"

Bo fanned herself with her hand dramatically. "Why Lauren, I didn't think you thought of me in that way!" she giggled, whilst Lauren hastily grabbed her bag and said "I meant to put my stuff away, Bo."

The brunette threw her arm around the other girls' shoulders and led her out of the kitchen. "I know, I know. Come on, it's this way."

The ascended the stairs to the first floor, Bo leading them along the landing, their toes sinking into the plush red carpet. At the end of the hallway was a door, mostly occupied by a large sign reading "Mother, Sod Off" in tall black letters.

Bo shrugged, pushing open the door. "Couldn't resist."

Her room was surprisingly small, given the size of the rest of the house. It was still much larger than Lauren's however. The walls had been a soft cream colour when Lauren had last been here, but now they were covered in posters. Bo's favourite bands; several of tanned, muscly men. These were interspersed with pictures of Bo and her friends and family.

It was in stark contrast to the decorations in Laurens own room, which consisted of a large picture of Albert Einstein, a replica of a Monet print her mother had picked up from a car boot sale to cover the peeling yellow paint, and on the back of her door a big poster of Xena.

Dropping her rucksack at the foot of Bo's queen size bed, and leaving her unopened can of lemonade on the desk, Lauren flopped down onto the bed, sinking into the soft mattress. Through a groan, she said "Bo, I love your bed. I think I could sleep here for days. Well, not really, but you get what I mean." She gazed at Bo through her lashes, watching as the other girl flopped down on the bed next to her. They peered at each other for a moment, before Bo spoke.

"Speaking of sleeping…" she turned to look up at the ceiling. "It's something I wanted to talk to you about, actually. She pushed herself up on her elbow, peering down through her hair at her friend. "I've been feeling a bit weird. Since the beginning of summer, actually." She cleared her throat. "I've been having these, err, dreams." Lauren nodded for her to continue. Divination was most certainly not her strong suit, but she was sure Professor Trelawney had mentioned the subject of dreams more than once. Perhaps she should have brought her book with her.

Bo tucked her hair behind her ear. "They're good dreams, though Trelawney could probably make something bad up about them," she giggled nervously "but they just keep happening over and over again. I thought maybe you'd know something?"

Lauren thought for a moment before asking. "Could you tell me what they're about?"

Bo coughed, her gaze slipping from Laurens. "Umm-"

"Don't tell me if you don't want to, I can probably guess."

Bo nodded, lying down and returning her gaze to the ceiling.

"I haven't got my divination book with me, but I remember reading around the subject last year. Do you reckon you could hold on until we get back to Hogwarts? I'll get some material from the library, and for now I'll ask my mum to send Hen with whatever I've got at home."

Regrettably, she'd had to leave her beloved barn owl at home. Most train companies did not take too kindly to travelling owls. Getting up from the bed, she crossed to Bo's desk, and wrote a short letter to her mother.

"Can I borrow Toby?"

"Sure."

Letter sent, she returned to the bed, sitting next to Bo who had closed her eyes. She opened them when she felt the bed dip slightly.

"This is a bit miserable, especially seeing as you've only just got here." Her face brightened. "Want to go for a picnic? It's a lovely day."

"Sure, why not."

* * *

Behind Bo's house and across two fields was a small hill, a tall, lonely oak tree at the top. Lauren leaned with her back against the trunk, a half empty can of coke in her hand as she watched the sunset. Bo sat close beside her, their shoulders and thighs touching ever so slightly.

Lauren sighed happily. "This is so much nicer than the estate."

Bo hummed in agreement. She'd never visited Laurens home, they both lived too far from the other to be able to visit on a whim, but Lauren had told her a lot about it in her letters, although she did omit some of the finer details.

They watched the sun sinking slowly below the horizon, the sky a beautiful picture of oranges and reds and yellows, fading into blue and purple as the night sky took over, the first stars beginning to shine above them.

"Shooting star," Bo whispered, pointing at the sky. "Make a wish."

Lauren felt as if in this moment she had everything she could ever have wished for. She supposed she should have wished for it to last forever, stay the same. But that would have been irrational. Time carried on like it always did, changing from one second to the next. Nothing was ever the same.

"Dyson asked me to go to Hogsmead with him. On a date."

Except lover-boy and his incessant puppy love for her best friend, that is.

Her happy mood soured slightly, Lauren asked "Oh yeah?"

"Yeah." Bo was still looking at the stars, a grin on her face. Lauren felt a pang of guilt. She knew Bo liked Dyson, knew that it was that textbook relationship the girl was looking for. After the long string of lovers her mother had taken over the ten years of Bo's life since her father had run off with their marriage counsellor, Lauren shouldn't blame her for wanting something steady. Even if it was, she reminded herself, a stupid teenaged crush as fleeting as the mayfly.

She supposed she should want the same thing, which was silly since she was fifteen years old and had her whole life ahead of her, meticulously planned. Finish Hogwarts top of her class. Become a healer at Saint Mungo's. Maybe do a little research here and there. She idly wondered if there was a wizarding world version of the Nobel prize.

There was no time for men. Or women.

Her thoughts drifted abruptly to Tara, to the note the older girl had slipped through her rusty letterbox asking if maybe she wanted to hang out some time, without the others. To Bo, sat beside her on a picnic rug not unlike the one she and her friends shared so often on the estate, wishing on shooting stars and gossiping about her crush like any normal teenaged witch.

"You should go," she sighed, almost inaudibly.

"Sorry?"

"Go out with him. He makes you happy."

"Loads of people make me happy. You make me happy."

"Yeah, but I never asked you on a date to Hogsmead."

Bo laughed. "True."

From below them, drifting through the still air, came the sound of tyres crunching over gravel, the low rumble of a car engine, suddenly cutting off. A woman, two women, laughing and talking, a low male voice. Lauren heard the front door to Bo's house opening and shutting.

Beside her, Bo shifted and sighed. "Looks like mum's home. I think that was James as well. Don't know who the other one was. We should head back, make sure they see us before they start banging or whatever, maybe then they'll keep the noise down."

Lauren grimaced, getting up and helping fold the picnic rug. Together they descended the hill.

* * *

"Bo, honey! There you are! And this must be Lauren." Lauren wrinkled her nose at the smell of alcohol rolling in waves off Bo's tall, beautiful mother. She had to stop herself backing away from the hand, bedecked with expensive looking rings (she had gotten the better deal from the divorce), that reached out to ruffle her blond hair.

The man, James, was quite handsome, if a little short, with dark hair and tanned skin, and a disconcertingly white smile. Behind him, her long fingers running occasionally through his floppy hair was a gorgeous blond. Both looked more than a little tipsy.

"Bo darling, this is Haley," she gestured to the blond, who was now moving her hands over James' chest. Bo's mother swatted them away playfully. "Later dear, there are children in the room." They all laughed drunkenly.

Haley walked around James and placed her hands on Bo's mothers hips, resting her chin on the taller woman's shoulder. "Perhaps you kids should go play somewhere, the adults have, err, business." She snickered, one hand roving up the brunette's stomach.

Lauren just gawped at the display, until Bo grabbed her hand and pulled her from the room, a disparaging "Keep it down guys," sending the adults into fits of giggles again.

Once in Bo's room, the door firmly shut, Bo collapsed on her bed, scowling. "I am so, so sorry about her. And him. And the other her."

From downstairs came a muffled cry of "Aoife!" and some other noises that had Lauren flinging up her hands to cover her ears with. Bo reached over to the CD player next to her bed, pressing play, and mercifully the sounds of Duran Duran filled the air.

Lauren sat carefully on the bed, still a little shocked.

"You might have to stay in here for the night. I think trying to get to the guest room is a little risky at the moment."

Lauren nodded. "I would like to preserve my innocence for just a little longer."

Bo laughed, but it sounded hollow. From the hallway came to sounds of soft giggles, sighs and the odd moan, fading as the door to Aoife's bedroom slammed shut. Bo turned the music up a little louder.

"_Straddle the line in discord and rhyme / I'm on the hunt I'm after you. /Mouth is alive with juices like wine /And I'm hungry like the wolf_."

The brunette groaned. "I can't wait for September."

Lauren lay down next to her, her fingertips softly brushing her friends arm. She snuggled into the soft pillow, murmuring "Don't worry. Only a few more days and you don't have to see her," the song ended and for a moment before the next song started they could hear Haley noisily in the throes of passion. Lauren grimaced. "Or hear her, for three months."

"Good," came the muffled reply. "I'd much rather spend time with you."

* * *

AN: Reviews make me happy in this time of stress and logic gates, so please let me know what you think. Thought I'd bring Aoife into this, because the season finale so nicely reminded us she still exists. Doccubus will be returning to Hogwarts next chapter, writing the muggle world bores me. Thanks and enjoy.


	6. Chapter 5

The warm summer lasted well into September. Lauren sat leaning against the cool stone of the wide window ledge, watching the early morning sunlight leak through the thin layer of mist drifting over the grounds. She watched as deep grey turned to gold, dissipating as the sun grew stronger, the mist thinning to reveal the slopes of the distant mountains, and closer, Hagrids' hut, the quidditch pitch, the three goals at either end almost sparkling in the dawn light.

She hugged her knees, drawing them closer to her chest. Through the window she saw a figure wandering through the mist, its wispy tendrils parting to allow dew soaked grass to tickle bare feet. She recognised Bo, watching as the girl turned towards the black lake. She was carrying a towel under her arm, wrapped inside of it, Lauren knew, was her blue swimming costume and a change of clothes.

Lauren tucked her hair behind her ear as Bo disappeared from sight behind a stand of trees, tapping her cold feet on the window ledge. Behind her, she heard Kenzi roll over in her bed, muttering something about mascara.

She stretched, starting to get down from the window sill. She was ready for a warm bath in the prefect's bathroom, and as it was a Saturday, she could soak for longer than usual before Tamsin interrupted her to gloat about whatever it was she felt the need to gloat about that morning. For a moment, she turned back to the window, and a movement on the lawn caught her eye. Peering through the glass, she made out Dyson.

A frown creased her forehead. It deepened when he changed direction and turned away from the quidditch pitch towards the black lake. She swiftly swapped her pyjama bottoms for a pair of grey jogging pants, pulling on her trainers and grabbing the hoodie hanging from the end of her bed, before silently exiting the dormitory.

There was a reason Bo went swimming the morning before a quidditch match, and it wasn't so Dyson could spend some one-on-one time with her. She pulled her hoodie on over her tank top as she marched through the quiet hallways, skipping the stairs two at a time.

The air was cool on her face as she strode over the lawns towards where she had last seen Dyson, although just by looking at the blue sky she could tell it was going to be a hot day. The flags that adorned the quidditch pitch lay flat against their poles, still heavy with dew as they waited for the sunrise to dry them.

Leaving the path Lauren headed for the shortcut to the small shingle beach Bo usually left her things on when she swam. She slowed slightly as she neared the lake, eyes roving the trees that surrounded it, looking for Dyson. She frowned when she couldn't see him, either on the beach or crouched in the undergrowth. She didn't quite know why he would be down here, he knew as well as most that Bo needed to be alone when she swam.

Nearing the lake she heard faint splashes, through the trees she saw Bo, water streaming from her fingertips and down her arms as she cut through the lake. Settling down on a log to keep an eye out for Dyson, she watched as Bo turned and headed for the shore. Watched as she went from swimming to wading until her bare feet crunched through the shingle. Watched as she bent down to pick up her towel, hurriedly dragging her gaze away as she stripped off her swimming costume.

"Enjoying the view?"

Lauren almost leapt out of her skin at the sound of Dyson's voice so close behind her.

"What the hell?" she whispered fiercely, turning to see the boy grinning not half a foot behind her.

"Didn't know you liked to come out here this early," he said, cocking an eyebrow in her direction.

Pulling her hoodie sleeves over her hands she looked away from him. "I don't normally," she said, before meeting his gaze, her eyes hard. "I only came down to make sure _you_ weren't going to disturb her."

He laughed quietly. "I'm not going to disturb her. She asked me to come find her before we meet up with Hale for breakfast. Now if you'll excuse me." He walked around her and over to Bo, who was dressed and drying her hair.

"Oh," was all she could say to his receding back. She watched as he crunched across the small beach to Bo, who dropped her towel and flung her arms around his neck, laughing happily.

"Dyson! I didn't realise you were already down here."

"Just waiting for you to get your ass out the lake and ready for breakfast," he replied, hugging her back.

Lauren folded her arms across her chest, trudging through the undergrowth and back up to the castle. Of course Bo had asked Dyson to meet her, they were practically a couple, what with the whole Hogsmead thing and their "natural chemistry," as Kenzi so delightfully put it.

She kicked a fallen branch, muttering "Natural chemistry my ass, she just thinks they look cute together." Which, thinking about it, they did. Like Dyson was the cute puppy following Bo around all the time.

By the time she reached the dormitory she had cooled off slightly, a little embarrassed she's even thought there was something untoward happening. It was still early, so she decided to take a bath before breakfast.

* * *

"And that's Gryffindor's Bo Dennis with yet another goal! That girl is _on fire_ today! Gryffindor is leading by four goals to Ravenclaw's two, come on Ravenclaw! You're giving me a bad name up here!" Ravenclaw's Ryan Lambert stamped his foot angrily as he watched Cassie Dean smack a bludger at Hale who dodged "Nice dodge, Santiago!", and dived, snatching the quaffle from mid-air, and tossing it over his shoulder with uncanny precision to Dyson "And he pulls off yet another perfect reverse pass, the guy must have eyes in the back of his head!"

"What the hell are they doing now?" In the stands, cheering with the rest of her house, Lauren watched, riveted, as Bo rolled to avoid a bludger, the roll turning into a dive. At the other end of the pitch, Dyson zoomed upwards. At the same time, both chasers flew parallel to the pitch, two hundred meters between each. As they passed each other, Dyson dropped the quaffle, Bo reaching up to catch it without even looking.

"Holy shi-… I mean fizzing whizbees! Where have they been hiding that one!?"

It was a move they had practiced over and over during training, but never before tried in an actual game. The crowd went wild as Bo swooped upwards, twisting to face the goal posts. She grinned at the keeper, who looped around the goalposts, his eyes glued to the bright red quaffle tucked under her arm.

A bludger whistled up behind her, and from the stands Lauren yelled "Bo, watch out!" even though she knew the girl couldn't hear her. Bo merely leaned slightly to the right, the bludger hurtling past her, inches from her face, heading instead straight for the Ravenclaw keeper, Bo right behind it.

He threw himself sideways to avoid the bludger, leaving the middle goal open for Bo to hurl the quaffle through.

"And again, she scores! It's fifty – twenty to Gryffindor and it looks like the seekers have seen the snitch!"

Bo turned to watch Stefan, his blue Ravenclaw quidditch robes flying behind him in the wind, speeding towards her from the other end of the pitch. Looking around frantically for Ciara, she saw the seeker high above her in the air, gaze locked on the glint of gold far beneath them.

Hair streaming out behind her Ciara rolled suddenly into a dive, hurtling downwards, spiralling past Bo and straight towards the pitch. Bo gasped as she stretched out her hand, as Stefan stretched out his hand, as they smashed into each other, falling towards the pitch.

There were cries from the crowd as the two seekers fell downwards, apparently unconscious from the crash.

"Dammit," Bo muttered, leaning forwards and plunging after them. From the corner of her eye she could see Madame Hooch struggling to pull her wand from her robes and fly at the same time, Dyson and Hale barrelling past her, but none of them were close enough.

Grunting, Bo forced her broom faster, as the ground flew up to meet her. Letting go of her broom handle with both hands, she reached out, grabbing the back of Ciara's scarlet robes. The added weight yanked her sideways and she fell, in the nick of time wrapping her legs around her broom and catching hold of Stefan's limp arm with her free hand.

She could hear the crowd cheering and screaming, could hear Ryan yelling things like "Would you bloody look at that!" and "Best quidditch match in a long time!" Dyson and Hale arrived then, each taking a seeker and allowing her to pull herself up on her broom.

From Dyson's arms, Ciara murmured groggily "What happened?"

"You scared the shit out of us for one thing," Bo gasped.

"You and Stefan crashed into each other chasing the snitch," Hale helpfully chipped in.

"Ah, the snitch," Ciara said, opening her tightly clenched fist to reveal the little ball. In the stands, the Gryffindor supporters cheered wildly, Bo could just make out Lauren with one hand over her heart, the other waving frenziedly in the air as she cheered with the rest of her house.

Bo grinned to herself, suddenly tired, and slowly they drifted to the ground.

"Gryffindor catch the snitch! They win, again, obviously. What a match that one!"

* * *

"Bo? Bo, where are you?" Lauren ran into the changing rooms, calling out over the cheers and the sounds of hundreds of students moving out of the stands above them. "Bo?"

"Lauren, over here." The blond sighed in relief as she saw Bo grinning crookedly at her from underneath Madame Hooch's arm, the older woman fussing over her, checking her for injuries. "That was recklessly stupid miss Dennis, why can you never wait for the teachers to save the students, hmm?" She sighed, ruffling Bo's hair. "Ah well, you stopped them from flattening themselves on the ground. Would have taken ages to clean up the mess." She started walking to the door, calling out over the noise and her shoulder "Just be more careful next time. I'm going to check on Ciara and Stefan. Come by and gloat over how you saved them sometime."

Bo laughed, taking Lauren's hand as she reached her and squeezing it. "Will do, Madame Hooch."

She exhaled, turning to face her friend. "Before you ask, Lauren, yes, I am fine. No bumps or bruises or broken legs." She yawned, pulling Lauren to sit on the bench next to her, and leaning her head against her shoulder. "Just very, very tired."

"You should be," Lauren said against her hair. "You saved Stefan and Ciara from major injury, all after scoring five goals for your team."

Bo chuckled. "Yeah. At least we won." Straightening up and stretching, she tucked a strand of Lauren's blond hair behind her ear. "Come on. Walk me up to see Stefan and Ciara, and then we'll go for lunch."

Lauren gazed solemnly at her. "Okay. You sure you don't want to have a lie down first? You look exhausted."

Bo grabbed her kit bag and her broom. "Nah, once I've got some food in me I'll be fine. Besides, I have plans."

Addressing the rest of the changing room, she called "Party in the common room later?"

* * *

"Madame Pomffrey just smeared some green goo on her head where she and Stefan smacked into each other. She'll be fine. I left the two of them arguing over whose fault the crash was," Bo laughed, taking a gulp of her pumpkin juice. "I think they fancy each other."

Everyone around her laughed. She was sat in the great hall, Kenzi tucked under one arm, the other gesticulating as she told another group of students how she'd scored five goals and saved the seekers.

"It's a good match," she said, stuffing a forkful of pudding into her mouth and swallowing. "Although," she turned to Dyson, who was squashed next to her, "I always thought she had a bit of a thing for you."

Across the table, Lauren joined in the laughter, a smile fixed to her face as she watched Bo milk the moment for all it was worth.

"Alright guys, I'm done with dinner." She pushed her empty plate away. "Party starts at eight in the common room, and lasts as long as it can until Prof McGonagall turns us all into mice to keep us quiet."

* * *

Lauren stood in the corner by the stairs, drink in hand, watching through the crowd of happy students as Dyson whirled Bo around the space cleared of furniture in the middle of the common room that served as a dance floor, the amplified sounds of The Weird Sisters blasting in her ears.

Cheers rocked the rafters as Ciara entered through the portrait of the Fat Lady, a huge bruise on her forehead.

"Well if it aint the woman who won us the match whilst she was sleeping," Dyson called, reaching out to hug her. Everyone laughed, students moving to shake Ciara's hand, some to pat her on the back, "well done's" and "get well soon's" filling the air.

Bo, having already teased and thanked the seeker in the hospital wing, moved to the side of the room, towards Lauren. "Well, that's my moment of glory over." She chuckled, watching as Hale offered Ciara a drink with a flourish.

Lauren hummed agreement, taking a sip of her drink.

"Tired, Laur?"

Lauren shrugged. In truth, that party was getting to her head a little. She wanted to return to her room and hide under her covers with her book, but she stayed for Bo. The brunette gently took the cup from her hands, setting it aside.

"Go to bed, if you want. I'll see you tomorrow."

She looked surprised when Lauren pulled her into a hug, but went along with it. "Well done," the blond said, heading up the stairs. "And I still think you're the hero of the match, even if Ciara won it."

Smiling, Bo went back to the party.

* * *

Long after the music stopped, after everyone had been herded to bed by an irate Professor McGonagall, Bo sat watching the dying embers in the fireplace.

"Do you want to get transfigured into a mouse?"

Bo jumped, settling back into her chair when she saw who had spoken. "Dyson, you scared me."

"Sorry."

"Doesn't matter. I'll go up to bed in a minute, just thinking some things through."

He nodded, moving closer to lean against the arm of her chair. "You did good today."

"I know."

He snorted quietly. "So modest, Bo."

She shrugged, grinning up at him. He scratched the back of his neck awkwardly.

"Umm, Bo?"

"Yeah?"

He hesitated, before leaning closer, cupping her chin and kissing her softly. He drew back almost immediately, but Bo just smiled up at him.

She didn't hear Lauren's bare feet running back up the stairwell.

* * *

She hummed quietly as she got herself ready for bed, smiling contentedly as she lay down. Lauren had her back to her, and she was asleep. Bo could see her shoulders rising and falling calmly as she breathed in and out. Pulling the covers around herself, she closed her eyes. She could tell Lauren everything in the morning.

* * *

Lauren lay with her back to Bo, the moonlight glistening off the single tear that ran down her cheek.

* * *

I'm back and I come bearing angst and DyBo and jealous Lauren, oh my! It will not last for long, trust me, but plot demands what it must. Review please, and tell me what you think. Much love to everyone still reading.


	7. Chapter 6

"- So he said 'Bo' and I was like 'yeah?' and then he just looked at me and then wham, he kissed me."

"MmmHmm."

"Lauren, are you even listening to me?"

"I'm sorry, what?" Lauren put her scalpel back on the table and dropped the finely chopped mint leaves into her gently simmering potion. Bo used her free hand to waft away the pale green steam that arose from the cauldron, the other haphazardly ripping her own mint leaves apart.

"I said Dyson kissed me. On Saturday, after the party. I would have told you sooner but I couldn't find you all day yesterday. Where were you, anyway?"

"Oh, in the library," Lauren lied, avoiding Bo's gaze and turning the page of her copy of Advanced Potion Making and scanning the instructions.

"But I checked the library," Bo said, throwing her mint leaves into her own cauldron, which promptly spat crimson sparks and a thick, grey smoke that smelt worryingly like burning hair back at her. Coughing, Lauren flapped her potions book uselessly backwards and forwards though the fumes.

"Don't worry, I got this," Bo said, pulling her wand from her bag and waving it in an arc. "Evanesco."

Lauren instinctively ducked, closing her eyes as the smoke thickened, hardening into a swirling round mass that dropped suddenly into Bo's bubbling potion. The brunette had the presence of mind to drop to the floor as, with an echoing boom, her cauldron exploded, shards of pewter flying everywhere and red steam billowing from the blackened dent in the charred table.

Lauren fumbled for her own wand, in the shocked silence of the classroom whispering "Aguamenti," a column of pale red steam hissing slowly into the air as the water extinguished the melted, twisted remains of Bo's cauldron.

The two witches stared at each other for a few moments through the dissipating haze, before Snape snarled from the front of the classroom: "One hundred points from Gryffindor."

* * *

"Hey Lauren!" The blond grimaced as she hurried up the steps of the owlery. Dyson was the last person she wanted to see right now.

"Lauren!" Perhaps if she pretended the earlier explosion had deafened her, he would stop yelling and leave her alone.

"Oi!" She could hear his footsteps behind her, running. She sighed, turning to face him and mustering a false smile.

"Dyson, sorry, I didn't hear you."

He slowed down, walking the last few steps. "No worries. Hey, have you seen Bo anywhere?"

She could feel her smile melting from her face, so she shrugged, turning away. "No, sorry. Maybe she's not got out of detention yet. Snape likes to keep people late."

"Yeah, I know that." Dyson had a habit of pissing Snape off. He was almost as inept at potions as Bo was. "Alright, I'll go see if she's still in the dungeons. See you."

"Yeah, bye," she said to his back as he descended the stairs. She could almost see his tail wagging. Huffing another sigh, she began climbing the stairs again, hoping Hen was up in the owlery. She was digging in her coat pocket for the letter to her mother as she walked through the door, which explained why she didn't see the other girl until, with a surprised "Oh!" she knocked into her, sprawling onto the floor.

"Oh my goodness, are you alright?" Lauren gazed fuzzily up at a concerned, pretty face framed by frizzy brown hair.

"Hmm. Yes, I don't appear to have broken anything." She accepted the girls' outstretched hand, pulling herself upright. She tucked her hair behind her ear again, taking in the only other human occupant of the owlery.

She was a little shorter than Lauren, dark skinned and very pretty, with long curly hair that reached to a little below her shoulders. Lauren recognised her from herbology class. She was in Hufflepuff, an excellent artist (Lauren had once peeked over her shoulder as she drew a fanged geranium,) and called… "Nadia. Err, thanks for helping me up. Sorry, I'm a little clumsy."

She noticed the sketchbook under Nadia's arm, indicating it. "Oh, were you drawing? That's cool, you're a good artist…" she trailed off, awkwardly scratching her head. Nadia watched her with an amused grin.

"I'm sorry, I'm babbling. I'll shut up." She fiddled with the envelope in her hands.

"No, not at all. You're cute when you babble."

Lauren blushed furiously, ducking her head and letting her hair fall back over her flaming cheeks. She kept her gaze steadfastly on the floor as the rustle of paper reached her ears.

"I was drawing, yes."

Glancing upwards, Lauren saw a beautifully detailed picture of a drowsy barn owl. Her drowsy barn owl.

"Oh, you drew Hen!"

"She's yours huh? Tell her from me she's an excellent model."

Lauren giggled, immediately slapping her hand over her mouth at the absurd noise. Nadia's brows furrowed in concern. "Are you alright? You didn't hit your head when you fell did you?"

Lauren shook her head. "Nope, this is just how I act around people I don't really know. You can be quite… intimidating. You meaning strangers in general, of course. Not you as a person, obviously. I'm sure you're very nice, and not at all intimidating or scary whatsoever." She paused for breath, shaking her head. "I'm so sorry, I don't quite know what's come over me."

Nadia laughed, taking a step forwards. "Well, whatever has come over you, it's adorable." Lauren watched through her eyelashes as Nadia reached out, deftly plucking a feather from her blond hair. She let it fall from her fingers as she said "I wonder how many pillows you could stuff with all the loose feathers in this place?"

Lauren just shrugged, crinkling her letter between her hands. Nadia noticed, taking a step back. "Well, I won't keep you. I'll see you in herbology?"

"Yeah," Lauren smiled at her. Nadia nodded, turning and heading back to the door. Lauren searched for Hen, spotting the barn owl sleeping near the window. "Hen," she called softly, holding out her arm for the owl to land on as she swooped gracefully down.

She tied her letter to the owls' leg, watching as she soared out of the window headed for the muggle world. She heard footsteps outside, turned to leave and saw Nadia in the doorway.

"Leave something behind?" Lauren asked.

"Nope." She held out a piece of paper to the blond. "Just thought you might like this." It was the drawing of Hen. Lauren accepted it with a smile. "Thank you."

Nadia just shrugged, linking arms with Lauren as they walked back to the castle. "Have you had dinner yet?"

* * *

Bo sat in the library tucked neatly under Dyson's arm, flicking almost violently through a transfiguration textbook she wasn't paying the slightest bit of attention to. She scowled as Kenzi blocked her line of site and sat down in front of her.

"Yo Bo-Bo and the D-Man. 'Sup?"

Bo could feel Dyson's chest rumbling as he answered. "Well Bo here is trying to rip her textbook to shreds without even looking at it. Apparently that's how she revises now."

Kenzi delicately placed her elbows on the table and rested her chin on her hands, watching Bo's face turn sourer by the minute.

"Bo, honey, correct me if I'm wrong but is that scowl aimed directly at our resident scientist and her hot new lady love?"

Bo's lip curled and she tore her gaze away from Lauren and Nadia, sat impossibly close together on the same armchair as Lauren explained something about plants, gesturing to the open book in her lap.

"Nadia's not her 'lady love'. They're not even dating, they're just friends. Lauren's not into girls. She's not into guys. She's just into…science."

"You don't sound so sure there Bo."

Bo swatted Kenzi lightly with her transfiguration book. "No. She would have told me. I'm her best friend."

"And then you hooked up with Dyson here and left her alone and vulnerable to fall into the clutches of hot, talented Nadia over there."

"I'm right here, Kenz."

"You know I love you really Dyson."

Bo stood up abruptly, dropping her book into Dysons' lap.

"Hey, where are you off too?"

"I need a shower."

"Bo, it's six o'clock in the evening and we have a transfiguration test tomorrow."

"Revise for it then. I need a shower."

And with that she turned her back on them and stalked out of the library. Outside in the cool corridors of the castle she calmed down, but didn't stop walking. Lauren wasn't into Nadia. She can't be into Nadia. She would have mentioned it. She told Bo everything. Except that letter. It was more of a note really. The one she'd received right before term started.

_"Oh good, Mum sent my books." Lauren tore open the packaging and dumped the two battered copies of divination textbooks onto Bo's bed. Bo reached out and picked up the letter that fell out with them. "She sent a letter too."_

_Lauren had her back to her, busy packing her clothes into her backpack. "Can you read it out to me? I'm kind of in the middle of something."_

_"Sure."_

_Bo settled back onto the bed, tearing open the envelope and removing the letter._

"Dear Lauren. I hope this letter finds you well. I've sent your trunk and the rest of your school things on already, they'll be waiting for you when you get to Hogwarts. Missing you already, the flat just isn't the same whenever you're not exploding things in your bedroom."_ Bo laughed at that. _"Your friend Tara popped round wanting to speak to you about something, but I told her you were away at a friend's. She left me a note to give to you; I'll put it in the same envelope as this letter. I'll see you at Christmas, all my love, Mum."

_Bo tipped the envelope upside down and a single piece of paper floated out and onto the bed. "Who's Tara?" she asked, reaching to pick it up. Suddenly Lauren was there, snatching the note from her hand and scrunching it up. _

_"No one," was her curt reply. _

_She uncrumpled the note, scanning it quickly before shoving it in the top of her rucksack. "She's just a friend from home."_

_Bo was shocked by Lauren's sudden change in mood, and more than a little intrigued by the note, but for once she chose not to push it. Lauren would tell her when she was ready, she always did._

By now she had reached the dormitory. Rummaging in her trunk for a clean t-shirt, she grabbed her towel and made for the door. Under Laurens bed she could see the strap of her rucksack. She paused, torn between wanting to know what was in the note, and knowing that she would be betraying her best friend if she looked. Finally, she shook her head and left.

* * *

They'd fallen into a comfortable silence, Nadia with her arm wrapped around Lauren, the blond leaning her head against her shoulder, eyes drooping closed on occasion as she tried to focus on the textbook in front of her.

Finally, Nadia shifted, unwrapping her arm from Lauren and standing slowly. "Alright, I think it's time for bed, don't you?"

Lauren yawned in reply, shaking her head to wake herself just enough for the walk back to the Gryffindor tower. Nadia reached out her hand to help her up from the armchair they had been curled in, keeping hold of it for a little longer than necessary.

Madame Pince wandered past, snuffing out candles as she walked. "It's almost curfew girls, run along now." Nodding, they headed out of the library.

"Thanks for helping me revise," Lauren said, as they reached the portrait of the fat lady.

"No problem, I liked spending time with you." Nadia shuffled her feet, pressing her lips together as if she wanted to say something but didn't quite know what. Lauren tapped her index finger against her book, waiting.

"Lauren?"

"Nadia."

"There's a trip to Hogsmead coming up in a few weeks, isn't there?"

"Yes."

"I understand if you're doing anything with Bo, or if you don't want to or anything, but hanging out with you these past few days, I really feel like we've grown closer." She took a deep breath, suddenly nervous. "Do you want to go out with me?"

She peered at Lauren through her eyelashes, watched as a smile spread out across her face and the blond nodded.

"Of course. I'd love to."

Nadia let out a sigh of relief, pulling her into a hug. For a moment, the image of Bo's face flashed through Laurens' head, and for that moment she wondered what her friend would say. Then she remembered the brunette had Dyson now. And Lauren had Nadia.

The portrait of the fat lady let out an impatient cough. "I'm all for young love, and adorable as you two are it's very late and I need my beauty sleep."

The two girls giggled, pulling apart. Nadia leaned down and pressed a kiss to Laurens' cheek.

"See you later."

"Bye."

Lauren was almost through the portrait when she felt a hand on her shoulder, spinning her gently around. For one brief second she felt Nadia's soft lips press against her own.

"For luck, in your test tomorrow."

She grinned and then walked off back to the Hufflepuff dormitory. Lauren watched her go, fingers pressed lightly against her own smile.

* * *

"Where have you been?"

Lauren flinched violently and spun to face Bo. The brunette was sat in the armchair by the fire, arms folded, expression half hidden in shadow, a curious mix of anger and sorrow and something else.

"I was in the library."

"Yeah. With Nadia. I know."

"Then why…"

Bo cut her off. "Are you two dating?"

Her question caught Lauren off guard; she just stood there, bathed in the moonlight streaming through the window, her mouth open but no sound leaving it.

"Are you and Nadia dating?"

Lauren found her voice, although it was a little higher pitched than usual. "Yes. Sort of. I think"

"You think?" Bo raised an eyebrow.

"Yes." Lauren nodded. "Yes, we are."

Bo looked away, her face falling into shadow, her shoulders losing their stiffness. Her voice came quieter now. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Well to be perfectly honest we sort of only just started. Dating. She asked me out five minutes ago and I haven't had a chance to tell you."

"I mean why didn't you tell me you liked her? Why didn't you tell me you liked girls? It's fine, you know, that you like girls. I just…"

Lauren stayed silent as she trailed off.

"You're my best friend, Laur. And you didn't tell me this?"

"Well I've only known her a few days and-"

"Is it Dyson?"

Lauren looked nonplussed. "What? What has Dyson got to do with any of this?"

"Kenzi says that you only started hanging out with Nadia after Dyson and I got together, she reckons you feel like I've abandoned you. Do you?"

Laurens brow creased and she could feel herself getting angry. "You think that just because you've got yourself a faithful puppy to hang on to your every word and make out with you and whatever it is you two do, I feel _abandoned_? Bo, I've known you for five years, and I care about you a whole lot. You made me feel welcome in a world I knew nothing about, you made me feel safe and you cared about me back. But the whole world does not revolve around you!"

She was almost shouting now, could feel tears pricking at the corners of her eyes. Bo had traded her earlier look for one of complete shock. Lauren had to fight to keep her voice from shaking as she carried on. "I couldn't care less that you've been seeing Dyson, I would have told you as much when you were pining over him during the holidays. But I didn't. I couldn't. Because I could see how much you liked him and I could see how good it was for you to have someone."

A tear traced its way down her cheek, mirrored by the ones now welling up in Bo's brown eyes. "I could never hurt you like that Bo." She shook her head, swallowing. "But maybe you couldn't care about me the way I care about you because as soon as _I'm_ happy, you have to question it. I'm seeing Nadia, not because I don't have your full and undivided attention - I never did! I'm seeing Nadia because I like her and she makes me feel something I've only ever felt when, when…"

_When I'm with you,_ is what she wanted to say. Instead, she dashed the tears from her eyes and lowered her voice. "And maybe I didn't tell you because I knew you'd do this. Maybe I didn't tell you about Tara, because you knew you'd do _this_. I wanted to tell you Bo. I wanted to tell you that I made out with Tara and I liked it, that I was maybe feeling something for Nadia and I wanted to tell you because I _needed_ to tell you and I couldn't because YOU DID _THIS!" _

Bo was openly crying now, the dying flames in the hearth reflecting off the tracks of the tears that streamed down her face and dripped from her chin, her hand pressed over her trembling lips as she realised that one little sentence, one little assumption had just cost her her best friend.

She tried to speak, but it came out as a broken whisper. "Lauren, okay, I get it. I'm sorry, I'm just not used to-"

"To what, Bo? To seeing me with someone that isn't you? To seeing someone else make me happy for a change?"

"Yes!" Bo straightened up, her voice stronger. "You were always so alone and now suddenly you have Nadia? Lauren you've only really got to know her over the past three days, you can't decide you love someone based on such a short amount of time!"

"God, Bo, you sound like a jealous lover! Maybe I've only known Nadia three days but I've loved you from the moment I met you!"

Bo watched her as she raged, her blond hair flying about her and her brown eyes red from the flames and her tears and so full of her anger. She was beautiful, and she'd never realised before.

"I've only ever loved you, I've only ever had you. I'm fed up of only being there for _you_, Bo. I want to be there for myself."

Laurens' voice cracked and she couldn't get any more words past the lump in her throat and all she wanted to do was cry. Her breath caught and her chest heaved and she _ran._ She needed to get away, she didn't care that it was past curfew and Filch was out and about and that she'd probably end up on detention. She didn't care because care was all she'd ever done.

The portrait of the fat lady swung shut behind her, cutting of Bo's desperate cries of "Lauren!" and she ran. And it was the very fact that the person she cared most about had made such a base assumption about her and her feelings that sent her hurtling out into the empty corridors, tears blurring her vision.

* * *

AN: I'm going to have to change the genre from humour to angst, aren't I? This jealous Bo thing was going to go in a totally different direction and it was going to be funny and cute and then this happened and it works far better but it's also making me cry. I swear I never said it wasn't going to be a bumpy ride, but there is a reason I don't like roller coasters. Review and let me know what you think. Should I fix Doccubus next chapter or continue the angst for a bit?


	8. Chapter 7

The sky was overcast and the clear air had a sharp bite in it, Lauren's warm breath frosting as she breathed out between chattering teeth. Rubbing her upper arms through her thick coat she glanced around, watching as other students passed her, laughing and chatting on their way down to Hogsmead.

Arms wrapped suddenly around her waist, and she relaxed into the warmth of Nadia's body pressed snugly against her back.

"I was wondering where you were," Lauren chuckled, twisting in her girlfriends' arms and pecking her on the lips. "It's freezing out here."

"Well I hear the Three Broomsticks has a lovely fire," Nadia replied, taking Lauren's gloved hand in her own as they started towards the tiny village. They trailed behind the larger group of students, making small talk and taking in the view of the already snow-capped mountains that towered over the castle.

In the weeks since the fight between Bo and Lauren, the blond had been spending most of her time with Nadia. The two would spend hours talking, or reading, or talking about books they had read, walking through the grounds hand in hand to soak up the last of summer, snuggled by the crackling fire in the library and generally avoiding anywhere Bo was likely to be.

Lessons the two former friends shared were filled with strained silences between them. Professors had noticed the distance, one or two raised an eyebrow when Lauren sat as far away from the stony-faced brunette as she could, buried her head in her textbook and practically ran from the room when the bell signalling the end of lessons rang, but none questioned it, chalking it up to the two having just suddenly and rather violently grown apart.

Kenzi was firmly on Bo's side throughout the whole mess, acting childishly cruel towards Lauren, which the blond ordinarily would not have minded but as they shared a dormitory it was difficult to put up with, until a quiet word from Bo silenced the girls words to angry glares.

The brunette herself was caught between wallowing in denial: "We can sort this out, can't we? If she'd only just talk to me…" and brimming with self-righteous anger at the way things had ended. "It's not my fault she got so upset about it all. Okay, I 'assumed' that she felt like I'd abandoned her but she said it herself, she's only ever had me. It was a natural assumption to make!"

Nights were the worst. Lauren would come in right before curfew, silently change and climb into bed without a word to anyone. The first few nights Bo had tried to talk to her, resolve things, but Lauren had merely taken a pillow and the duvet from her double poster, and slept on the couch in the common room.

"So do you want to go and get some butterbeer from the three broomsticks first, or do you have anything else in mind?"

Lauren cuddled closer to her girlfriend for warmth and said "Butterbeer in front of a nice big fire sounds lovely."

Nadia smiled, pushing open the door to the pub. "Butterbeer it is then."

Inside the pub was crowded, students with mugs of Butterbeer clasped in their hands, talking and drinking and laughing, took up most of the space. Lauren let go of Nadia's hand, pointing to the only empty table, half hidden in shadow in the corner by the fire.

"I'll go and get that, you go and get us some drinks, okay?"

Nadia nodded and Lauren ducked through the crowds and slipped into one of four chairs cramped around the small, circular table. Taking off her coat she draped it over the chair back, pulling off her gloves and laying them on the table, scanning the crowd for Nadia.

She was still at the bar, a few sickles in her hand, chatting to the Hufflepuff seeker Kevin. Lauren turned away to see if there were any free tables closer to the fire, and didn't notice Dyson until the chair beside her scraped backwards.

"There you- Oh, Dyson, I thought you were Nadia."

He coughed, avoiding her gaze. "Lauren, hi. Nope, not Nadia just me." He coughed again. Lauren bit her tongue to stop herself asking if he was having trouble with a hairball. Dyson carried on, still not looking at her. "Umm, it's a little crowded in here, so, err, would you mind if we-"

"Dyson, there you are, I couldn't see you though all of these people…" Bo's voice trailed off as she took in the other person at the table.

"Is there nowhere else to sit?" she asked, her hand on Dyson's shoulder.

"There's always the floor," a voice from behind her quipped. Nadia appeared, placing two mugs of Butterbeer on the table and taking her seat beside Lauren. "You could sit there." She drew her girlfriend into a soft kiss and Bo looked away, sorrow evident in her brown eyes.

Dyson pulled the other chair out and gestured to Bo to sit down. "We'll just sit here to drink our drinks and then we'll leave you in peace, okay?"

Nadia just shrugged, sipping her drink. Lauren watched Bo as she sat down out of the corner of her eye, then picked up her own drink. The pub was loud with the other students, but their small corner was filled with an awkward silence that lasted nearly ten minutes as Dyson sipped lazily at his Butterbeer, Bo having downed hers in a matter of seconds, fidgeting as she waited to leave.

Finally, Dyson wiped his mouth, getting to his feet. Bo jumped up quickly, her chair scraping back. "Well it was lovely to see you two. Come on Dyson, you promised you'd take me to the shrieking shack."

With that the couple left, Bo practically dragging Dyson out the door. Nadia raised an eyebrow and turned to Lauren. "It is always like that between you two now?"

Lauren shrugged. "Pretty much."

Finishing her drink, she wiped foam from her upper lip, grinning at Nadia. "This is lovely and all, but it's crowded." Nadia hummed her agreement.

"Want to get out of here, go for a walk?"

"Just not the shrieking shack though, okay?"

Lauren laughed, grabbing her gloves and heading for the door, her smile dropping for just a moment when her back was to Nadia.

* * *

Snow was starting to fall as they trudged back to the castle, light flakes drifting through the cold evening air to melt on their smiling faces. Dark grey clouds lined the sky, threatening an end to the short autumn and the start of a harsh winter.

Nadia peered through the thickening snow at the lights of the castle ahead. "Weather's going to be horrible for the holidays, I don't envy anyone staying behind."

Lauren didn't reply, busy stamping snow from her boots as they reached the main entrance.

"What are you doing over Christmas?" Nadia asked, gently brushing a few unmelted flakes from her girlfriend's blond hair.

"Saying behind," Lauren replied. "Too much of a journey all the way back to Kings Cross and then home again. Besides, Mum's off on a nursing thing so I'd be alone most of the time anyway."

"Maybe Tara will pop by, you won't be so alone then." Lauren turned towards Bo's voice. The girl was brushing snow from her own hair as Dyson plodded in behind her.

"Who's Tara?" Nadia looked between the two of them.

Bo shrugged. "Oh, just some muggle girl our Lauren here had a bit of a fling with over summer." Her voice had a spiteful edge to it as she continued. "I'd watch out if I were you Nadia. It seems Lauren gets tired of people after a while, once she's used them."

Lauren looked shocked, and more than a little confused. What on earth was Bo doing? This wasn't like her.

Bo tried to ignore the look on her face as she pressed on, heart aching. "Tara was heartbroken when Lauren disappeared to her friend's house in the country. Left a lovely note detailing how much she enjoyed Lauren's company, although I get the feeling she missed a little more than that."

Bo had her hands in her pocket, clenched in the right was the scrap of paper she'd dug out of Lauren's backpack after their fight.

"She's quite poetic, Tara, isn't she?"

_The way you kissed me under the stars. An innocent fifteen year old is the best I've ever had and when you walked off into the night the only thing I could think was 'more'. Come out with me, we can talk and do 'more' if you want. Without the others. Whenever you get this, I'll be waiting. Love Tara._

"I won't read it out loud; it's far too mushy for my taste. Here." Pulling the ball of crumpled paper from her pocket she tossed it to Nadia. "Just thought it was fair to warn you that she'll get bored eventually. It might take one summer, it might take five years. Don't want you getting hurt."

She turned away and walked up the stairs with Dyson at her heels. It was difficult not to run back down and wrap her arms around Lauren and whisper in her ear over and over again that she was sorry. That she had guessed wrong and that her best friend meant more to her than anyone else.

She wished she could go back to how it had all been before but she couldn't and it wouldn't fix anything except maybe giving her one more chance to realise she cared about Lauren as more than just a friend.

So she told her heart to stop hurting and swallowed her guilt over her petty act of jealous justice.

* * *

"What is this? What was she talking about?" Nadia opened the note and scanned it as Lauren dragged her over to one of the stone benches in a secluded corner of hall.

"It happened over summer. I kissed a girl and she liked it and I liked it but it never went any further than that."

"She seems to want it to have."

Lauren sighed, dropping her head in her hands. "She'll have forgotten me by Christmas. Look, I don't know how Bo got that note. I'm sorry. I didn't think it was anything worth mentioning." She fiddled with her blond hair, scared. "But I'm not going to get bored of you or whatever she said, I don't know why she said that or where she got the idea from."

Nadia lifted her girlfriend's chin with her finger, looked into her eyes. "I know you won't leave me. You've never even gotten bored over Professor Binns so I know I'm safe." She chuckled, then turned serious. "Bo only brought this up out of jealousy, Lauren. She doesn't have you anymore and I do, and she wants to break us apart because she doesn't like that."

Nadia made a show of ripping up the note.

"There, see? We don't ever have to speak about this again if you don't want to."

Lauren pulled her into a tight hug, so glad she had her, and trying not to think about the fact that if Bo was jealous enough to try and break her and Nadia up, maybe, eventually, things could have worked out between them. If only either had realised sooner.

* * *

"What was that for?" Dyson asked her as she hurried up the stairs. She didn't know, she really didn't know. All she knew was that her heart hurt so badly every time she saw the girl she'd known for five years kiss someone else that she wanted to curl up and cry.

"Bo. Why did you do that? Are you jealous or something?"

Maybe. Maybe that was why she'd wanted to do something so contemptibly stupid to get back at her for making her feel this way.

"Do you miss her that badly because I'm sure there's some way to be friends again without making a really bad attempt to ruin her relationship."

Bo missed her so much. But never enough to hurt her, she shouldn't ever have hurt her.

Tears welled up in her eyes and Dyson pulled her into his arms. "Hey, hey, don't cry. You miss her, I get it."

Bo just buried her face in his shoulder and willed the tears to stop. He had it all wrong. He didn't get it and frankly he couldn't because up until thirty seconds ago even she hadn't, and now she did.

She'd watched as Lauren screamed at her, hurt and betrayed and angry that for so long she'd loved one person who didn't know she loved her back. She'd watched and slowly realised that she did love her back and she'd watched and she'd known that it was just a moment, a day, a lifetime too late to tell her.

She couldn't fix it so she'd tried to break something else, tried to salvage enough pieces to fix the hole in her heart where Lauren should be and no one else fit. She missed her because she was the other half that made her herself. Eleven years of being alone, five of blissful happiness unaware of the cause, and now she knew she was alone again.

* * *

AN: I'm writing angst as a prayer to the rain gods to send me some goddamn cloud cover. Bashed out this one quickly because I've finally finished my exams and that, coupled with the excessive amount of sunlight outside, means that I can now spend a lot more time in my bedroom/cave writing. Yay!

Also, I made a Tumblr: salamandersaurus-rex (look how original I am), where I might post some short ficlets about other things that happened in Hogwarts before fifth year. (Hint, send me prompts to write stuff please?) I'll leave a link in my profile, if you're interested.

One more thing. In the next few chapters I'm going to write some smut (Doccubus, obvs), I was just wondering how graphic you guys might like it. Although you do watch Lost Girl so I think I'll be safe with what I was planning. Bear in mind I've only written smut once before though. Ta for reading and see you next chapter.


	9. Chapter 8

_Her hands fisted in the sheets of her four-poster, and even through the thick cotton she could feel her fingernails digging half-moons into her palms. Her back arched upwards into the phantom kisses trailing their way down her abdomen, hands caressing her hips, fingertips as soft as the breath of a ghost even as they forced her back onto the bed._

_Her eyes rolled back behind closed lids, hot, wet lips whispering against the apex of her thighs tugging a quiet moan from her own, dry mouth._

_Her breathing, shallow, quick, hitched as a tongue traced languidly over her centre, once, twice, following her hips as they jerked upwards, and then suddenly disappearing._

_Unable to open her eyes, she reached out, fingers blindly grasping at air instead of tangling into long blond locks she knew should be there._

_She panicked, tried to get up but it was as if she was pinned to the bed and now she was thrashing, scrambling to get up, but something heavy was covering her legs and it was so, so dark, and she screamed…_

"Bo, Bo! Bo honey, it's okay, it's okay, calm down." Bo could feel someone pinning her shoulders to the bed as she writhed, still in the throes of her dream. "Bo, listen to me, it's okay, it was just a dream. Bo, can you hear me?"

She stilled, Lauren's soothing voice washing over her and calming her nerves. She let her ragged breathing slow, until she could speak.

"Just a dream, just a dream," she repeated in a hoarse whisper, almost to herself. "Just a dream…" She felt Lauren get off the bed and opened her eyes. She watched as her expression changed from stony relief (she was still angry, so very angry,) to one of shock. She gasped, taking a step backwards.

"What? What's wrong?" Scared, Bo ran her hands over her face, checking everything was still there.

"Your eyes, I swear they were-" she cut herself off, shaking her head. "Never mind, it was just the moonlight."

"They were what, Lauren?"

The blond had already turned away, climbing back into her own bed. Pulling the covers back over herself, she faced away from the other girl. She didn't speak for nearly a minute, and Bo almost didn't hear her when she whispered: "Blue."

* * *

Lauren woke early the next morning, despite the disturbance during the night. She tried to forget the noises Bo had been making before she started screaming, remembering instead that she still almost hated the girl. The dorm was silent, everyone but themselves having headed home for the holidays.

Bo was still asleep, and though Lauren was tempted to check her eyes, to see if they were still glowing as beautifully blue as they had been last night, she didn't, resolving instead to head to the library after her bath.

* * *

She sighed as she slipped into the deep pool in the prefect's bathroom; the water was just the right temperature as she ducked her head underneath to wash her hair. Coming up for air, she scooped up the bubbles clinging to her hair, watching them float back through the steam that rose from the surface of the water with a small smile on her face.

"A little old to be playing with bubbles, aren't we?"

Lauren grimaced, watching as the Slytherin prefect Evony Marquise dropped her towel onto one of the low marble benches lining the walls of the bathroom, tugging the tie from her long, wavy brown hair and looping it around her wrist.

"What are you doing up so early? I thought snakes liked to wait 'till the sun came up, at least."

"Oh you're so funny," Evony drawled, slipping out of her yoga pants and folding them. "I'm up because Tamsin woke me when she dropped her beaters bat on Bianca's head. Accidentally of course." She sighed, stripping off her tank top and diving into the pool. Lauren watched the ripples spread out and sincerely hoped she'd hit her head on the bottom of the pool, but, alas, she didn't, breaking through the water in that annoyingly perfect way only she could manage.

She continued almost immediately "-so to escape the noise and the blood and the repercussions, I decided an early bath was in order."

She curled her lip at Lauren. "I assumed it would be empty."

Lauren shrugged as she reached for her shampoo. "Sorry to disappoint."

Evony glanced at her suspiciously, before turning and swimming to the side of the pool, stretching out and closing her eyes. Lauren set about washing her hair, almost finished when Evony spoke up again.

"Just a quick question."

"Mmmhmm?"

"Since you and Bo aren't talking anymore, are you still going to the quidditch match when term starts again?"

Lauren ducked under water to wash the shampoo from her hair, thinking. The quidditch match was a big deal to everyone, not just the students in Slytherin and Gryffindor, the teams facing each other. Both houses were on equal points, this match would decide which of the four houses were still in the running for the house cup at the end of the year.

"Yes," she said when she came back up. "I'm still going. With Nadia."

"Oh," was Evony's reply.

"Why do you ask?"

The brunette just shrugged, eyes still closed. "No reason."

Lauren frowned as she climbed from the pool, reaching for her towel to dry herself. The Slytherin's were probably planning something, but she couldn't ponder it. For now she had something else to do.

* * *

She was pouring over an old, leather bound book, perched in her favourite couch in the corner library, oblivious to anything but the neat, curly script on the page in front of her.

_The succubus is one of the strongest, and rarest, of the race of creatures known as Fae. Feeding off sexual energy, Succubae, and their male counterparts Incubi, can kill if they do not control themselves when feeding from humans. It is usually around their eighteenth year when they become dependent upon chi to survive, but their nature can begin to show from as early as fifteen years of age. Signs are varied, but often include sexually explicit dreams, and the irises of the eyes turning blue._

Lauren shut the book, coughing when she accidentally inhaled some of the dust that rose from its pages.

Professor McCorrigan had told them once that the world of magic was not limited to humans. She knew about werewolves, had once even met a lovely vampire named Herbert, from Yorkshire, but never before had heard of them being referred to as Fae.

Strolling through the shelves she returned the book, _Magicae Non Hominibus_, to its place, scanning the spines of the books surrounding it for something, anything else on Fae. Succubae in particular.

She told herself that, though she and Bo had fallen out, though she could not for the foreseeable future forgive her, the brunette still needed her help, especially if she was a Succubus. Lauren tried not to think about that, but as her mind worked she realised it was becoming more and more of a distinct possibility.

The blue eyes as Bo awoke from a dream that at one minute made her moan in her sleep, the next had her screaming in fear. And this wasn't even the first dream. Thinking back to the summer, to the letter Bo had written asking her to visit, she'd mentioned 'dreams' then.

And her mother, Aoife. Assuming Succubae were a species, it was rather obvious Aoife was one herself. Lauren wondered if she'd ever bothered to tell Bo. She didn't seem like that kind of mother.

Sighing, Lauren rubbed her tired eyes. It was only eleven, yet she felt as if she'd been awake for days. How was she meant to tell Bo all of this, without involving herself? A note, she supposed, with the relevant information and the names of the books.

_Dear Bo, you're a supernatural creature who feeds on sexual energy and has pretty, blue eyes. Love, Lauren._

No, that wouldn't do.

She huffed a sigh and picked up the books she'd been reading. It occurred to her that maybe she shouldn't tell Bo what she'd discovered. The girl had expected her to do the research, to find out what was wrong with her, even before they'd fought.

Lauren was sick of Bo taking advantage of her like that; maybe it would do her some good to leave her stewing in sex dreams for a while.

Then she remembered how her heart had stuttered in fear when Bo screamed in her sleep, tossing and turning and her expression pure terror.

For five years Lauren had adored Bo, from afar, in the guise of a best friend, and though the past few weeks had shown her the side of Bo she'd never noticed before, a side that made her question everything she'd known about her, she couldn't ignore the overwhelming love she still felt for the brunette, a love that almost commanded her to tell the girl she wasn't human.

* * *

Bo sat cross-legged on her four-poster, hair ruffled from sleep, still in her pyjamas – a black tank top and some shorts. The dorm was empty, she didn't know where Lauren had gone, the blond had already left by the time she had woken up.

She needed to speak to her.

The dream replayed itself over and over in her head, her fingers twitching as she imagined them clutching at long blond locks, her breathing hitched when she remembered dream Lauren moving torturously slowly down the length of her body, could imagine the sultry grin on her face as she licked her lips and dipped her head to –

The door creaked open and Bo's eyes shot open, she hadn't even realised they were closed. She shifted, hands moving a safe distance to her knees. Lauren stopped in the middle of the room, taking a deep breath.

She was carrying three thick, leather-bound books, which, steeling herself, she handed to Bo.

"I'm still mad Bo. I've not forgiven you and I don't know if I ever can or will, but there is something about yourself that you need to know, that I need to tell you."

Bo tried to speak but Lauren cut her off. "No, I want you to just listen, for now."

Rubbing the back of her neck, she started, her voice low and steady, almost monotone, her eyes never leaving Bo's. "I don't know if your mother ever told you. I don't think she did, to be honest, because otherwise you wouldn't have needed me when the dreams started. Those books," she indicated the three volumes Bo had placed next to her on the bed. "They contain information on a species of Fae called a Succubus. They're basically like a vampire that feeds on sexual energy instead of blood."

Bo felt colour rise in her cheeks, and Lauren looked away.

"It all fits Bo. The dreams, your eyes changing colour, hell, even your mother was an indication. The books say you'll have to rely entirely on sexual chi once you turn eighteen, but for now you'll be fine. You'll just have to find a way to keep yourself quiet, or at least quieter, when you sleep."

Bo cleared her throat, her voice slightly hoarse when she said "So, what you're saying is, I'm a – a Succubus, whatever that is?"

Lauren nodded stiffly.

"You're sure? You're certain you haven't mixed up your facts?" Her pale face already told Lauren that she believed her. The evidence was overwhelming, but Bo wanted, _needed_ to be normal, her life certainly wasn't, it never had been, really.

Lauren felt her insides clench in guilt, that she had been the one to shatter Bo's world. She recalled the time Professor McCorrigan had turned up on her doorstep, she had been eleven and still living with her abusive father. She remembered how she'd felt when he'd told her she wasn't normal, she was a witch and however horrific her life had been before it was going to get better.

She had been so filled with hope and wonder and happiness, she wasn't normal and that was the best thing that had ever happened to her.

Bo must be feeling the exact opposite of that now.

"I'm not human?" Her voice was high, scared. Lauren felt her heart flutter at the look in her eyes, almost went to her, to wrap her arms around her, but she stayed where she was. "You're not human Bo."

Bo shook her head, getting up off the bed and pacing to the window, back again, muttering "How could she not tell me this? How could she let me believe I was human when I'm a _thing_, some, some _monster_."

She turned to Lauren, panic in dark eyes wet with unshed tears. A whisper, broken, Lauren's heart shattering along with it. "How could she not tell me?"

Lauren turned away as she felt tears brimming in her own eyes. Even now, as Bo turned to her yet again for the answers, she had to fight to keep her voice steady, cold.

"I suggest you ask your mother."

* * *

AN: I am so damn sorry I didn't update for ages. This week has been far more hectic that I imagined and I blame my teachers entirely. I've been trudging around University campuses for the past two days, and before that I was working diligently on my EPQ, but fear not, though this chapter is short, the next one will be longer and full of much smut. Enjoy.


	10. Chapter 9

AN: Contains swearing and a little bit of sex, hence the change in rating. Enjoy.

* * *

Christmas passed in a flurry of snow and empty corridors, hollow voices murmuring carols and the lights too dull to twinkle. Toby hadn't returned and it was with some sick hope that Bo wondered if he'd been injured carrying the letter to her mother, rather than Aoife just not caring to respond.

With the return of Dyson and Kenzi and Hale and Nadia, things almost returned to normal. Almost.

Lauren hardly spoke to them, buried in her books and her school work, often blowing off Nadia to hide in classroom three on the sixth floor. Nobody knew what she was doing, and after Bo had been on the receiving end of the three different hexes she'd shielded the door with, nobody bothered.

Nadia was getting worried. As was Bo, but she kept it quiet, locking inside the sadness she felt whenever Lauren tiptoed into the dorm late at night, face pale and eyes so very, very tired.

Things came to a head one rainy January afternoon in one of the herbology greenhouses. Nadia and Bo watched in horror as the plant pot containing a baby mandrake slipped from Lauren's arms and smashed to pieces on the concrete floor.

Through the screaming and the chaos Professor Sprout stormed up to Lauren, and as best as a squat dumpy woman in an over-large hat and ear muffs can, towered over her and hollered "You stupid girl, look what you've done! Fifty points from Gryffindor and detention for a week!"

Nadia tried to stand up for her but the baby mandrake was screeching too loudly and she ended up just hurrying after Lauren as she stormed out with tears brimming in her soft brown eyes and soil streaked along her cheeks where she'd dashed away her tears.

"Lauren! Lauren stop!"

Lauren kept on walking, ripping off her gardening gloves and her earmuffs and hurling them as far as she could out over the lawns. There was a freezing rain falling with Lauren's tears, hissing down from a low grey sky to slap cruelly against skin and melting snow alike.

"Lauren!"

She stopped, whirled around and Nadia felt her heart clench at the sight of her, broken, crying, and swaying imperceptibly on her feet.

"Lauren?" It was a quiet request to speak, and be listened to. Lauren gave a curt nod, blinking away her sadness and setting her expression in stone. "What's going on? You've barely spoken to me since I got back. Did something happen over the holidays?"

Lauren shook her head, her blond hair damp from the rain falling in a soft drizzle over the grounds. "Nothing happened. Nothing important." _I realised I might possibly maybe be in love with my (former?) best friend, but it can't go anywhere because she doesn't feel the same way and I still can't forgive her. Or maybe I can. But I have to help her._

"I've just been studying for OWL's, you know?"

Nadia nodded sympathetically. The professors were piling on the pressure, despite there being more than a few months before the exams. She knew Lauren got edgy when it came to tests, she'd seen it happen.

"Things are just, you know… hard, and, and-" Nadia cut her girlfriend off with a sudden, tight hug.

"It's okay," she whispered in her ear, felt Lauren shudder against her as she tried to fight back her tears, and, unbeknownst to Nadia, her guilt. "Come on, let's get you inside, it's freezing out here."

* * *

Professor Sprout had Lauren copying up old notes on long-forgotten species of rare plants, to replace the faded, scrawled instructions on the back of some ancient seed packets. The professor's office was quiet, brightly lit despite the early onset of darkness outside the castle.

Lauren was alone; the only sound the scratching of her quill against parchment. It was a sound she loved, something that calmed her down. Despite the situation, she felt more at ease here on detention than she had for a long while.

As often happened when she spent long enough writing, the sounds of her quill against parchment, and the repetitive monotony of the words she copied lulled her almost into a trance. She drifted, carried by the feathers of her quill, the ink spilling from the tip, and the interior of classroom three swimming before her brown eyes.

It hadn't taken her long to find the recipe for a sleeping potion strong enough to keep Bo quiet at night. Having left the page on the brunette's pillow, she had left it at that and gone back to her studying.

When Bo came to her covered in soot and some strange, greenish goo, she had sighed, mixed the potion herself in her empty classroom, and tucked it under Bo's pillow with a stern note explaining how she was going to fail her potions OWL if she didn't buck her ideas up.

Bo paid more attention in potions class after that, and began concocting her sleeping potion herself, and Lauren could feel herself almost hoping the brunette was relying more on herself in an effort to somehow apologise to Lauren for inadvertently taking advantage of her.

It took three weeks before the potion began to stop working. Lauren almost had to smother Bo with a pillow to stop Kenzi and the others waking up to the sounds of Bo's dreams. The next day, after an uncomfortable night on the couch, Lauren tersely led a sore and grumpy Bo to the library, and pointed her in the direction of the potions section.

"I'm only doing this to shut you up at night."

"Really? I thought maybe you'd forgiven me."

"Don't be so sarcastic, or I might hold the pillow down a little longer next time."

Of course Lauren did her own research on the side, it was what she did best, she told herself. An unsolved problem to her was like cooking a full Sunday roast, and then leaving it on the table and wandering off. She needed to at least try to understand how to fix things.

Reaching for the next crumbling seed-packet, something caught her eye. Forgetting her thoughts, she began reading in earnest.

* * *

Professor Sprout let her go after two hours of scribbling. Just as Lauren reached the door, the head of Hufflepuff called her back.

"Miss Lewis?"

"Yes?" Lauren still had her hand on the doorknob.

"Is everything alright?"

"Yes, professor," she said curtly.

"Lauren, you dropped a plant pot in my lesson today, then stormed out crying. That isn't like you. Forgive me if I start to think something isn't right."

Lauren dropped her gaze, shuffling her feet. "OWL's." Her default excuse these days, it seemed. "They're just getting to me, is all. I know they're still ages away, but exams always make me a bit jumpy, you know?"

Professor Sprout nodded, fiddling with a pair of dragon-skin gardening gloves she had picked up from her desk. "I understand. They are important exams, your OWL's, especially to someone like you. But they're not everything. Remember, my door is always open if you need to talk, as is Professor McGonagall's, I'm sure."

Lauren didn't think she would like to talk to Professor McGonagall about what was going on, not unless someone was in serious danger of getting hurt, anyway. Professor Sprout was still speaking. "Just remember let loose once in a while, forget about OWL's for a few hours. Run along now, or you'll be out after curfew. I'll see you again same time tomorrow."

Lauren left, making sure to take a short-cut back to avoid Filch. In her pocket was the seed packet detailing the sleep-inducing qualities of the Carnivorous Toadstool.

* * *

Nadia found her in the library the next day at lunch. Slipping her arms possessively around Lauren's waist from behind, she kissed her hair, ignoring how Lauren tensed slightly at her touch.

"What'cha reading?"

"Oh, nothing important," Lauren closed the book and put it back on the shelf. Sighing, she leaned back against Nadia, allowing herself one brief moment of comfort before she remembered Bo, and her mood soured. Nadia didn't notice.

"So, if you're not doing anything, we still have half an hour of lunch left. How about we spend it together?" Lauren let her kiss her neck, before turning in her arms, looping her own around her girlfriends shoulders.

"Doing what, exactly?"

"Oh, you know. Things."

Lauren raised an eyebrow. "Things?"

Nadia grinned and nodded. "Things."

Lauren took her hand and led her out of the library. "Okay, but not in the library. I need a note to get into the restricted section. I'm not sure anyone will give me such a thing, should they find us doing _'things'_, in what could be considered to be a public place."

* * *

Her lips were a little swollen, and her cheeks had a pink tinge to them when it struck her. "Oh," she gasped.

Nadia misinterpreted. "Do you like that?" she said, her teeth grazing Lauren's collarbone.

"What?" Lauren was distracted, her mind racing as she mentally calculated how quickly she could get into the Forbidden Forest and out again, before anyone noticed she was missing.

"I said," Nadia's tongue swirled across her neck. "Do you like that?"

"Err, yes." Lauren was already reaching for her tie, discarded somewhere in the empty classroom along with her jumper. "Can we continue this later, perhaps?"

"Why? We still have ten minutes."

"Yes but I, err-" Lauren racked her brains, fiddling with her tie. "I need to ask Professor Sprout something."

"Oh," Nadia looked a little non-plussed, but handed Lauren her jumper all the same. She fixed her mussed hair. "I'll come with you."

"No need," Lauren was already halfway to the door. "It might take a while. I'll see you after dinner."

"O-okay." Nadia said to the door.

* * *

Luckily (or not, given what happened next,) she had a free period after lunch. She hurried past Hagrid's hut. She could see him in the distance, tending to some massive pumpkins in his garden.

The forest loomed over her, and despite the clear, cold daylight, inside was nearly a solid block of unforgiving shadow. Lauren swallowed, then stepped beneath the tree line.

"Lumos," she whispered, her voice high and scared. Something rustled in the undergrowth as she followed what she sincerely hoped was the path. The leaves were so thick, even though it was only January, no sunlight filtered through to the forest floor.

Briefly she wondered how the undergrowth could survive in such conditions, then decided that she could pass it off as magic. She heard a howl, and froze, her wand light shaking with her trembling hand. She glanced back to the opening, dwindling in size, and almost ran back to the light.

Then she felt the parchment seed-packet in her pocket, and, squaring her shoulders and fiercely going through everything she had ever learned in Defence Against The Dark Arts in her head, she continued into the forest.

* * *

The rattling of spiders great and small clattered and echoed through her head as she, Nadia, and Bo pelted through the undergrowth. Branches tore clothing and ripped skin, their way lit only by the stunning spells each shot hopelessly back at their pursuers.

"Lauren what the _hell_ did you think you were doing out here alone?" Bo yelled through great gasps of air, ducking as a red bolt of light from Nadia's wand passed inches from her head.

"STUPEFY!" was Lauren's reply, followed by a shout of glee as one of the huge spiders dropped to the forest floor. Dodging a tree, she answered "Mushrooms! Well, toadstools."

"Please do not tell me you had some secret stash of muggle drugs growing out here- _Impedimenta!_" a spider stopped dead in its tracks, tripping another and both went down in a tangle of legs.

"Of course not, I just came looking for them."

"Why?" Nadia cried, leaping over a fallen tree trunk.

Lauren didn't answer, pretending not to hear as she dashed through a fern bed. "Why did you two follow me? I was doing fine until you came bumbling through the brush and woke the spiders up!"

"We thought you were in trouble," Bo panted, dodging Lauren's Incedio charm, which took out another two spiders. "Clearly we were right!"

"I could have dealt with the first two if you hadn't woken the rest!"

"Can we stop arguing and focus on escaping, please?" Nadia asked, almost politely despite the situation.

Lauren agreed, so did Bo, and then the sleeve of Lauren's jacket caught in a low tree branch. She jerked to a stop, her wand flying from her grip. Nadia didn't notice, running ahead.

"Bo, help!"

The brunette stopped, turned around, her eyes widening in panic as she saw a gigantic spider scuttling towards the trapped Lauren. Raising her wand, she aimed, and just as the spider was about to chew Lauren to pieces, screamed "Diffindo!"

Lauren felt hot blood spatter over her clothes as Bo's spell whistled past her, taking of one of the spider legs clean off its hairy body. She heard it screech in pain, and then Bo was there, scrabbling untangle Lauren's jacket, picking up her wand and shoving it in her hand, taking her other and then they were _running._

* * *

The spiders didn't follow them as they hurtled out from under the trees and into the rays of the setting sun. They amassed just in the shadows, clicking pincers and eyeing the three girls, who had collapsed onto the grass once they knew they wouldn't be followed.

They watched as Bo sat up and began to berate Lauren, the blond's chest still heaving from exertion. "What the hell, Lauren? Are you out of your mind? It's called the Forbidden Forest for a reason you know!"

"Yeah, that didn't stop you from going in second year, did it?" Lauren shot back, still panting.

"That was a dare," Bo complained. "And I had backup!"

"Yeah, yeah, the fantastic guard dog Dyson."

Bo ignored the slight, and got up, limping over to Lauren. "You shouldn't have gone alone. Those mushrooms can't have been that important anyway. What do they do?"

Nadia watched as her girlfriend handed Bo a slip of old parchment, puzzled when the girl's frown smoothed, and she said "oh. I see."

"What? What does that parchment say?"

"Nothing," Bo shoved it into the pocket of her jeans, and reached out to help Lauren up.

"How did you know where I'd gone?" the blond asked, changing the subject.

"I was worried," Nadia replied. "When you left so abruptly earlier. I followed you, bumped into Bo on the way down to the great hall and she insisted on coming along."

She ignored Bo's hand, getting up herself as the brunette said "Yeah, be glad I did, I saved both your asses."

"They wouldn't have needed saving if you hadn't trodden on that big stick and scared that owl."

"If I hadn't stood on it, you would have, clumsy."

Lauren watched as the two argues, rubbing at a long scratch on her arm caused by a thorny bush growing near the Carnivorous Toadstools she had picked. She could feel them, squashed into her bag.

"It's your fault she went out alone in the first place," Nadia was saying to Bo, whose frown returned.

"_My_ fault? How is it my fault?"

"She's insecure, she's been insecure ever since you two fought, so she probably felt like she couldn't ask anyone for help."

"Hey! She started that fight. And who are you to say she's 'insecure'?"

"I'm her girlfriend, I'm here to protect her" She needs me, because _you_," she stepped into Bo's personal space and poked her shoulder roughly. "_You_, left her all alone."

Bo gritted her teeth and spat back "You're sounding dangerously like you think you know her, Nadia. Watch your step, she doesn't like that."

"But I do know her, Bo. More than you do. She's not yours, okay, she's-"

Bo cut her off. "Yours, Nadia? Does she belong to you?"

Lauren felt her head spinning, tried to keep her vision steady as she watched the two girls fighting. For all her shortcomings, at least Bo knew how she hated being controlled, feeling like she belonged to someone else.

As Bo and Nadia yelled at each other, all Lauren could see was her step-mother, Nancy, cowering protectively over Lauren as her father raised his hand, his deep brown eyes full of anger and his signet ring glittering on his finger.

Lauren didn't like belonging to someone else.

"She's mine, not yours. You had your chance, stop trying to take her back! Lauren? Lauren!"

Lauren was running again, sprinting over the grass and the remains of the snowfall, tears glistening in the glow of the setting sun and all she could think of was _I don't belong, I can't belong, I will not belong._

She could hear the wind whistling in her ears and the sounds of Nadia and Bo screaming her name as the castle loomed over her, its cold stone her home, only for so long as it protected her. But the marble floors couldn't wipe her memories of her father, of Nadia betraying her trust like so many others, so she let her tears blur her thoughts as she headed for the sixth floor, bag banging against her hip.

* * *

In a way, she deliberated as her cauldron simmered and her thoughts bubbled, this was worse than Bo. At least her brunette didn't see her as an object. It occurred to her that she was taking this too far, that she should leave her experiment until the morning and find Nadia, apologise, make up and make out and forget about Bo.

And yet, as she watched the acid dripping from the Carnivorous Toadstools she had risked her life to gather (although really, who would have known about the spiders), she couldn't bring herself to extinguish the flames beneath her cauldron and leave.

The acid in the conical flask was a sludgy green colour, not appealing at all. She sighed. Professor Sprout must be worried by now. Either that or she had forgotten entirely about Lauren's detention. Lauren knew she herself had. Not that it mattered. She was an hour late anyway, and couldn't leave now. Wouldn't leave now.

She didn't hear the door open, and when Bo spoke softly over the hissing of the flames and the spitting of the potion, it almost vaguely occurred to her that the brunette had finally gotten past her security measures, without breaking out in boils again.

"Lauren, honey?" Lauren heard the door click shut, and it was that that alerted her to the presence of another, not necessarily, human.

"Bo. How did you get past-"

"Your hexes?" Bo gave her a small smile. "I read a book on it, would you believe."

"Not if I hadn't seen it," Lauren replied.

Bo held out a thick spell book she had been hiding behind her back, causing Lauren to break out into a smile. A pained one, but a smile nonetheless.

"What are you doing here, Bo?" Her tone wasn't accusatory, more resigned.

"I'm worried about you, Laur."

Lauren sighed, taking off her safety goggles. "I'm worried about me, too."

"Oh?" Bo perched on the edge of the table Lauren had set her equipment up on. Technically it was two tables she had dragged together, just to fit everything on.

The hostility that had taken her over these past few weeks, months, really, was gone from the blond's voice as she leaned back in her chair, taking her hair from the bobble she had tied it with. She fiddled with the tie, watching green acid drip, drip, drip, slowly into the conical flask, and spoke.

"I've been a complete bitch to you Bo. Rightfully so, but still, that's not me."

Bo stayed silent, watching her watch the flask.

"This is me," she indicated the potion. "Science, discovering things, knowing things. Sometimes helping you overcome whatever petty problem you have, ignoring when I never get a thank you, or when your eyes skip right over me as I hurt so much inside.

This is me. I hate how you took advantage of me, but I love that you paid enough attention to me to do so. Hush," Bo tried to speak but Lauren shushed her. "I was so grateful, that day in Flourish and Blotts when you fell on me, and you still wanted to know me, even though I knew nothing about your world.

I was grateful, when you stayed with me for all these years, and I guess in your own way, you did love me. But not like I love you."

Bo held up a hand. "There, Lauren, you have made a mistake. I love you in _exactly_ the way you love me."

"Perhaps you misunderstand. I don't love you like a friend. Or even like a best friend."

"What about super best friend?" Bo joked, and Lauren cracked a smile.

"Not even super best friend. Something more."

Bo felt her heart jump in her chest, she stayed quiet as Lauren took a deep breath. "I guess maybe it did start as the sort of love someone feels for a close friend, but over time it changed. When we fought, it _hurt_, it hurt so much, because I loved you, and at the same time I hated you.

Then you came after me, saved me in the forbidden forest. And I didn't hate you."

For a while they just sat there, each gazing into the others eyes as the firelight played over their faces. Lauren leaned forwards, whispering against Bo's lips "I love you."

Then they were kissing, kissing over the cauldron of bubbling potion, neither cared as simultaneously their lips parted to allow tongues to tangle, dancing around one another. Bo reached her hand up to cup the back of Lauren's head, pull her closer. She hissed when it collided with the conical flask of acid, cold air flowing between her teeth to play on Lauren's tongue, so neither noticed when the Bunsen burner toppled over onto the desk, the flames licking at the spilt acid.

Bo gently pulled the blond from her chair, hands going to the buttons of her pristine white lab coat. Taking a few steps back, Bo allowed Lauren to push her against another desk, away from her long-forgotten experiment, mouths still pressed firmly together, eyes closed beneath fluttering lids as she slipped the lab coat from her shoulders to let it pool at her feet.

Drawing back for breath, Bo whispered "I dreamt about you. I dream about you." She didn't give Lauren a chance to reply, although something about the way the blond's hands moved from her hips to the bottom of her shirt told her she'd heard.

Bo gasped as Laurens hands grazed the skin of her abdomen underneath her shirt, her own hands moving to help unbutton it. She slipped it off just as the blond reached up to cup a breast through the black lace of her favourite bra.

She bit her lip as Lauren ghosted a thumb over her nipple, felt it harden at her touch. Her fingers tightened on her hips, nails digging slightly into skin as Lauren's mouth drifted to her neck, nibbling her pulse point before dropping to suck at her collarbone.

Bo's hand slid up the other girl's spine, fingers tangling in blond hair to guide Laurens head, specifically her mouth, towards her still bra-clad chest. Fire ignited in the pit of her stomach as teeth replaced fingers, tongue playing over lace and skin.

Behind them, the spilled acid bubbled as fire traced over its surface.

Lauren's hand gripped Bo's ribcage, pulling the brunettes upper body towards her. Bo moaned as she felt Laurens breasts press against her own through too many layers of clothing, hands pawing at the buttons of her school shirt, and behind closed lids her eyes turned blue.

* * *

Bo tossed Laurens shirt behind them once she had removed it (a feat that had taken a little time, the brunette not having realised just how difficult unbuttoning someone else's shirt was,) and unfortunately it landed on the Bunsen burner still spitting flame. It caught fire with Laurens skin when Bo traced her hands up the skin of her hips, her back, fiddling with her bra strap.

Neither noticed the crackling of flame, covered as it was by the low moan emanating from Laurens throat as Bo tugged her bra off, her nails scraping down her arms sending trails of delicious pain behind them.

They were still kissing when Bo rested her fingers over the zip of Laurens pants. "Is this okay?" she asked, breaking away, suddenly nervous. Lauren just nodded, resting her forehead against the brunette's for a brief moment, hot breath washing over Bo's lips.

Her zipper tic-tacked slowly down, hands pushing her trousers over her hips and letting them drop to the floor. Bo's fingers traced a blazing path from her sternum to her navel, thumbnail scraping across her abdomen and causing her hips to buck. In response, Lauren dropped her head again to Bo's breasts, taking her right nipple in her mouth and sucking, Bo's upper body arching into her mouth.

It felt so right, Lauren decided as Bo's hand dipped underneath the hem of her underwear, hesitating only a moment before sliding further, feather light touches exploring her centre, dragging her hips forwards seemingly of their own accord, over and over again.

So right, when Bo finally slid a finger inside her, only up to the first knuckle but still enough to make her breath hitch and her jaw tighten, pulling a moan from the brunette as she bit down harder on her breast.

"So right," she whispered to herself, moving impossibly closer to Bo and once again capturing her lips, partly to stifle her own moans, partly because she just _could_ _not get enough_.

* * *

Fed by the boiling acid, and Laurens discarded shirt, the blaze turned its attention to the ancient wood of the desk. Later, Lauren would laugh over how apt a comparison it was, the fire greedily eating up the table as metaphorical flames devoured her skin, dancing in the pit of her stomach and lower, burning in time with Bo's fingers as they thrust, deeper and deeper, her own moans mingling with Laurens as the blond kissed her neck, her hand already unbuttoning Bo's jeans.

* * *

The light from the real fire played over their damp skin, turning Lauren's eyes red as they intently watched her lover with dilated pupils, although Bo couldn't see that as her own eyes were firmly pressed shut.

Lauren somehow lifted her onto the desk behind them, after tugging her jeans down her long legs, Bo allowing her thighs to fall open as the blond moved closer.

* * *

Lauren shuddered first, her orgasm rippling slowly, then faster, faster, until it screamed through her body and her back slammed ramrod straight, mouth falling open in a wordless gasp. Bo followed her over the edge almost immediately after, her head buried in Lauren's shoulder as her hips shuddered against Lauren's fingers and her guttural groan echoing through Lauren's head.

* * *

They stayed like that for a while, in each other's arms, panting, sweating, supremely satisfied. Then Bo opened her eyes, took in the sight of Lauren's irretrievable burnt shirt, flames licking across the desk to kiss the curtains.

"Better get dressed," Lauren said, still somehow oblivious to the blaze behind them as she searched for her shirt.

"Bo, where's my-"

"Aww shit."

"No, my shirt."

"Laur?"

"Mmmhmm?"

"Fire, Laur."

Bo pointed, Lauren turned and screamed, and not in a good way.

"Fuck Bo, how long have you know about the raging inferno?" Lauren was scrabbling for her wand, Bo couldn't help herself, despite the situation, from admiring her beautiful form.

"Oh shit, shit, where's my wand?"

It was lying on the floor underneath the table Lauren had just taken Bo on. Ducking underneath Bo's legs, Lauren grabbed it, spinning and shouting "Aguamenti!"

They watched as the water streaming from Lauren's wand tip hissed against the fire, steam billowing from the extinguished curtains. They sighed as smoke parted to reveal charred curtains, blackened desk, and the pitiful remains of Lauren's shirt.

"Here," Bo said, handing Lauren her lab coat. "You were too sexy for your shirt."

AN: *Mumbles something about writers block and runs away.*


	11. Chapter 10

Filch almost caught them - sneaking down and around corridors hand in hand, secret smiles lit by flickering torches in iron brackets on the walls – twice. Technically the second time it was Mrs Norris, tail curled around herself and hard eyes judging the two as they slipped around her and back into the Gryffindor common room.

It was just after curfew, so the common room was packed. Kenzi was chatting with Dyson by the fire. Bo's face paled, and her grip on Lauren's hand loosened for just a second.

"Fuck me," she said, brown eyes following her boyfriends animated gesticulations, he was trying his best to explain a new quidditch move the Gryffindor chasers had come up with the week before - Bo recognised the sharp wrist movements synonymous with her own violently tumbling race from two hundred feet in the air to the base of the centre goal.

"Already did," the girl next to her replied, somewhat smugly. She was preoccupied with holding the lapels of her lab coat together. Despite the top button having fallen off, it still covered enough of her neck and chest to escape notice, or so Bo had told her, brown eyes raking over that pale triangle of skin her lab coat revealed - but Lauren still self-consciously held the material together, clasped between her fingers at the base of her neck.

"No, I meant…" she pointed to Dyson, wordlessly.

"You want _him_ to fuck you?" Lauren looked hurt.

"No, no. No. I just meant, you know, what the hell am I gonna do about him? We're still together." She didn't sound too happy about that, but Lauren couldn't be sure if it was because she still liked him or if she was dreading the prospect of telling him she'd slept with her best friend in a burning classroom.

Lauren sighed. She was tired, sated, and for the first time in a long time, truly happy. So she really, really didn't want to think about this now. Complications. Often she thrived on them: why was this wrong? What wasn't working? And ultimately, how could she fix it? Now all she wanted was to kiss Bo goodnight, go to bed, and sleep, dream.

"Can we do this tomorrow?" she asked.

"Do what?"

"Whatever you need to do, I suppose. Break up with him, don't break up with him. Continue having an illicit affair with me behind his back, tell him about us and hope he's cool with it. Just… don't agree to a threesome, yeah?"

"So many options," Bo sighed, eyes still on Dyson, hand still clasping Lauren's. Was it really so cruel to leave this, whatever it was, a secret between them until daybreak? Perhaps sleeping on it would lend her some resolve. And maybe make anything sticky and messy disappear, but that was unlikely.

"Fine. Tomorrow."

* * *

All sleeping on the problem gave Bo was a sore back and bad dreams. Okay, good dreams. That heavily featured Lauren. The girl was sleeping peacefully in her own bed next to her. Once the daylight streaming in through the window was bright enough to wake her, Bo slipped out from under the covers, spent a moment watching dust motes dance in the sunlight shining off Lauren's hair, then grabbed a towel and headed to the showers.

They weren't as spacious as the prefect's bathroom (Lauren had once given her the password, the result of a dare, and for one glorious week she'd enjoyed the almost swimming pool. Then the password changed and she was stuck with normality once again.)

Not to say that the Gryffindor bathroom wasn't nice, it was, it just wasn't as spacious or relaxing as the prefect's.

That said, she still enjoyed a long, relaxing shower, hot water soothing her aching muscles. Sadly it did nothing for her racing thoughts, and she frowned as she washed, wondering what the hell she was meant to do about Dyson.

She supposed he deserved something from her, some kind of explanation. It struck her that she could be horribly selfish about the whole thing. What was it Lauren had said last night?

_I love you._

No, that wasn't it.

_Continue having an illicit affair with me behind his back._

That was the easy option, she supposed. That way she could keep them both, without any trouble. At least until Dyson found out, which he was bound to do. Kenzi would notice something between the brunette and Lauren, or a multitude of other things could happen. And besides, Lauren would tell her it was morally wrong to keep the poor boy in the dark.

Although she'd never stopped Bo from taking her in the classroom. Seemed to quite enjoy it, in fact…

She shook her head, droplets of water flying everywhere. No, she had to tell Dyson. Or at the very least break up with him properly, it would be rather cruel of her to string him along like that. And this way, she could openly be with Lauren.

But then again, it was a scary idea. She was only sixteen, she didn't relish the idea of breaking up with her long-term boyfriend (long-term by a teenagers' standards anyway,) and besides, it wasn't all that serious. Maybe she could just drift away from him, leave it to him to cut things off, albeit for different reasons?

She growled quietly under her breath. How was it she could fight off a forest full of giant spiders to save her best friend, and yet not have the courage to break things off with a boy?

Dissatisfied, she reached for her shampoo bottle.

* * *

It was a while later that Kenzi wandered in for her own shower. She was just hanging her towel over the sides of one of the large cubicles when she heard the violent exclamation of: "Shit!"

Kenzi raised an eyebrow at Bo's expletive from behind the shower curtain. A moment later, the water cut off, and a dishevelled Bo ripped the curtain back, angrily wrapping a towel around herself. One of her eyes was red, a bubble of shampoo still clinging to one of her eyelashes.

"I hate relationship drama," she muttered angrily, stalking past the smaller girl.

* * *

"Did you not think to wash your eye out, Bo?"

Lauren dabbed at the edge of Bo's eyeball with a damp cloth. The brunette was fidgeting, blinking rapidly as Lauren tried to wash her eye out. The mattress dipped as Lauren leaned against it.

"Nope. I was immediately struck, and distracted by, the thought: "oh shit, my eye is a fiery ball of pain," and unsurprisingly my first instinct was to get out."

An impatient sigh, then "Sit still, I'll do it for you."

She grabbed Bo's chin, gently. Using her wand she conjured an eggcup from mid-air, and filled it with water.

"How do you do that so easily? I can barely make a needle."

"Practice. You'd do well to try it more." Her grip tightened slightly. "Stop moving your face about."

Bo hissed as Lauren dripped water into her eye, telling her to keep blinking to wash everything out. After a while, it felt cooler, more like normal. Rolling it in its socket, she let the blurriness dissipate, the blond girl with an expression part concern, part exasperation coming into focus.

"That's better. Thanks, Laur."

"No problem."

Lauren still had hold of Bo's chin, and to her surprise, after a moment leaned down to peck her on the lips.

"Sorry, couldn't help myself."

"Don't apologise."

Lauren busied herself with vanishing her eggcup, straightening her duvet. Without turning to face Bo, she asked "So have you figured out what you're going to say to Dyson?"

"Well, I was trying to, then I accidentally squirted myself in the eye with shampoo."

"Oh, so that's what happened." Bo jumped, and Lauren took a huge step back and away from her, both watching Kenzi enter from the corners of their eyes, her dark hair still wet. She had her arms folded across her chest, and she was eyeing Lauren, the blond fiddling with the spine of a book and trying to avoid her gaze.

"How much of that did you err…" _See_. "Hear?"

"Enough."

Bo tapped her fingers nervously against the bed post.

"So you two seem close. Are you besties again now? What happened? Did Bo apologise to you?"

Lauren was taken aback at the sudden change of subject. "What?"

"She said some pretty nasty things, remember?"

"Well, yes. And I suppose she did apologise."

"Right. Okay. Oh, I'm on Bo's side in all of this, and I still dislike you intensely for everything that's happened these past few months. She hurts too, remember?"

"Err, alright. I'm sorry?"

Bo, looking on from the side-lines, stepped in. "Kenz, I'm getting whiplash here. One minute you're checking Lauren to see if she's okay, the next you're pissed at her?"

"I'm just making sure she's emotionally stable enough to get rid of her girlfriend. She's downstairs."

Lauren stiffened. She'd completely forgotten about Nadia, what with everything that had happened. Technically they were still together.

"She's outside the portrait, telling everyone going in to fetch you." Kenzi was saying. "Insists she needs to talk, and won't go away. The fat lady's getting really annoyed. Like, _really _annoyed. Something tells me you're gonna find it difficult to get in and out the tower for the next few days if you don't sort it out."

Lauren sighed, dropping her head to look at her shoes. She hated being sixteen, everything was so damn complicated. Resolving herself, she ran her hands through her hair.

"I'd better go do something."

"I'd hurry up then," Kenzi singsonged. "She's getting pretty hysterical."

"Who, the fat lady or Nadia?"

The girl just shrugged. Dragging her feet, Lauren headed downstairs.

"Now, Bo," Kenzi sat down next to the brunette on the bed. "We need a little chat."

* * *

Nadia's eyes were red from crying and Lauren felt a little tug at her gut, this was all her fault.

"Lauren!" Nadia cried, throwing her arms around her. "There you are, I was afraid something had happened." She drew back almost immediately, but kept one hand lightly on Lauren's shoulder.

The blond gazed at her, trying to think of something to say.

"I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to upset you yesterday. I was just, you know, a little scared. For you, for us." She traced a thumb along the lapel of Lauren's shirt. Her voice was quiet, sad. "I'm losing you to her."

Nadia let out a shuddering breath, the fight leaving her, and Lauren's brown eyes swam with tears at the sight, she tried desperately to blink them back.

"Although I think she always had you."

Lauren spoke, throat dry. "No, no Nadia, I cared about you. Care about you."

"Save it, Lauren." It wasn't angry, just resigned.

"Please, I'm sorry, I-" _Don't know what to say._

"It's okay. I, I came here to try and win you back. But then, you walked through that portrait. You didn't see me, and for a split second you looked so happy."

"Nadia…"

"Hear me out, please. I had a whole speech, and now all I can think is… I could never make you feel like that. I tried, so hard, and for a while I think we both believed this was the right thing, a good thing."

Lauren stood there, couldn't help feeling as if she was digging a hole for herself even allowing herself to agree with the other girl. But life was too complicated to try for constant happiness. She had to take it where she got it, like the rest of the world, and it hurt to think she was snatching that away from Nadia to hang onto it for herself.

"It was, it is-"

"Lauren." Nadia gave her a watery glare that made them both laugh, laughter which faded into an uncomfortable, unhappy silence. "I will always care about you, maybe you'll always care about me, I'd like to think. But I can't fight for you anymore if I'm never going to win you back."

Lauren sniffed, dragging the back of her hand across her eyes.

"I have to think of me too, you know? We're both happier apart, or we will be, after a while." She shushed Lauren, who was trying to speak, not sure what to say apart from _I don't want to hurt you, I think maybe it's too late now, but everything you're saying is true._

Nadia just pulled her into a hug. "I know you agree. Being right sucks sometimes." She giggled, sighed, pulled back once more.

"My dad always told me I was wise for my age."

"He's right."

"Too wise, it seems. Sometimes I wish I could be like a normal, petty teenager, shout at you, yell nasty things at you, try to win you back. But I can't, it's not the way I work."

"We, we can still be friends, right? I don't want to lose you altogether." _Can't help feeling this is all I can say to stop you hurting._

"We'll see what works out."

She turned away, letting her tears fall unnoticed. "Goodbye, Lauren."

She should be glad, that Nadia saw things this way, that she, Lauren, could hold onto everything she'd gained, could have Ba and be happy with her. But now Nadia had no-one, and she hated that she was so damn selfish to let that happen.

She had to try, she had to - "Nadia… I-"

But in the end she just shook her head, sniffling, watching Nadia's back. "Goodbye."

* * *

So I was on holiday for a while, and it should not be legal for friggin' Wales to be as hot as it was. Some days it was getting into the high thirties, and nothing makes me more lethargic than a heatwave, so I'm sorry that I've taken so long in getting this out.

I'm going to blame the weather and the fact this chapter was being a stubborn bitch to write (pardon my French.) I still don't really like how it turned out. Anyhow, sorry for keeping you waiting for so long. We're having thunderstorms now. *Hides under bed.* Let me know what you think, and thanks for reading.


	12. Chapter 11

Bo woke her up early the morning of the quidditch match. It was Slytherin versus Gryffindor, and somewhat of a big deal to both teams involved, and indeed, all four houses. Lauren decided to assume this was the reason Bo hadn't yet told Dyson about the two of them.

She tried to pretend it didn't irritate her, the fact her girlfriend made a conscious decision to keep their relationship quiet for the sake of a strong quidditch team, but if she was honest with herself, it hurt that Bo valued normality over whatever hardships breaking up with Dyson would bring.

Maybe the brunette would reconsider after the game.

"Help me with these pads would you?"

Lauren strapped the shin pads around Bo's lower legs, taking the opportunity to trail a finger along the other girls' inner thigh. Bo shuddered. For now, at least, they were alone in the changing rooms. Cupping Lauren's chin, Bo gently pulled her up, leaning down to place a kiss at the corner of her mouth. The blond's lips curled into a soft smile as Bo's moved to trace feather light kisses along her jawline.

"Are you glad I woke you up early?" Bo breathed into the hollow behind her ear. "Glad I brought you down here?" A hand snaked up her back and into her hair. "So we can be alone?" Lauren hummed in approval as the brunette's wandering lips settled at her pulse point.

"Oh, I wouldn't quite say alone."

Lauren leapt backwards so fast she almost toppled over, grabbing hold of the low bench to support herself. Getting to her feet she turned around to see the Slytherin prefect Evony, arms folded and eyebrow raised.

"What are you doing in here?" Bo asked, getting up to stand beside Lauren. "Gryffindor team members only, didn't you see the sign?"

Evony took a step forwards, unfolding her arms to trail a finger over the whitewashed changing room wall. She shrugged. "I saw it. But I ignored it, much like Lauren here. Who, unless I'm very much mistaken, isn't a member of the team either." She allowed a smirk to cross her face, before turning serious, addressing Bo. "But that doesn't matter. Well, it does, I'd say it's very useful information. But I came to warn you. The Slytherin team is planning something. I don't know what, not being a part of it, but I'm fairly sure it involves something… unpleasant."

"Why are you telling me this?" Bo growled. "When did you suddenly start to care about my well-being?"

"Oh, I don't, I can assure you. But I make it my business to know about everything that goes on at Hogwarts, if not everything, at least the vast majority of it. Although I must admit the two of you surprised me. I knew you were close, but not that close." She cocked her head to the side. "Does Dyson know? Never mind, I don't care…" she paused. "Yet."

Noting Bo's clenched fists and hunched shoulders, Lauren moved surreptitiously between the two other girls, hoping to cut Bo off should she charge at Evony. Not that Lauren would blame her, but she could see Evony's wand sticking out the back pocket of her stylish black jeans, and she wasn't sure she could grab her own in time if things took a turn for the worse.

Evony was still speaking. "Anyway, I know that if my team tries anything stupid, we'll be out of the running for the house cup. Petty and stupid competition that it is, I wouldn't wish to steal a chance for glory from my fellow Slytherins. So watch yourself out there, Dennis."

"How do I know you're not in on it? How do I know this isn't just some ruse, to make me do something stupid on the pitch and forfeit the match?"

"You don't dear. Maybe I'm lying, maybe I'm telling the truth. You're a smart girl, or at least your girlfriend is. Try and figure out which."

With another smirk, and an unreadable look directed at Lauren (which made the blond slightly uncomfortable, although she didn't quite know why,) she turned and strode gracefully from the changing rooms, leaving a fuming and confused Bo in her wake.

* * *

Ciara was team captain, a haughty sixth year, the seeker, and at that moment, more than a little irritated with Bo.

"-And she didn't say anything else? Just 'ooh, watch out, we might try something nasty on the pitch. Or we might not. You decide.'?"

"Pretty much." Bo sighed, rubbing a sore spot on her neck.

"She didn't hint at what they were going to do? If they were doing anything at all, that is."

"Like I told you twice already, she didn't say anything more than unpleasant."

Ciara huffed, folding her arms. "Well, with the Slytherins, unpleasant could range from anywhere between a few well-aimed bat bogey hexes to actually trying to take out a member of our team." She flopped down next to Bo on the bench. "Okay, you all know a shield charm, right?"

"Yeah, that's like, second year stuff."

Ciara sighed irritably. "Thank you for your input Kenzi, I merely asked a simple question, yes or no would suffice."

Kenzi held her hands up in mock surrender, but knew better than to argue with the seeker in her current mood.

"Okay, well, tuck your wands somewhere you can reach them, but don't, for Merlin's sake, do anything stupid unless the Slytherins do it first, okay? Purely self-defence."

The team nodded again, and went back to adjusting robes and pulling on helmets and gloves. Kenzi sat down on the bench Ciara had just vacated, comfortingly patting Bo's shoulder. "Witch was probably just trying to screw you up before the game, Bo. If something happens, we got your back," she said, patting the brunette's spine in emphasis. "But to me it just sounds like your usual dirty Slytherin tactics."

From his corner, Dyson piped up. "What I want to know is how she even knew you'd be here so early, and alone too." He said, strapping on his shin pads.

Bo shrugged, trying to hide her blush. "I don't know, she's got contacts, I've never met anyone more informed, it's kinda creepy."

"You got that right," Kenzi added. "She was born to be a Slytherin that one. Sneaky. It's in her genes. Those nice black ones she wore to Hogsmead last trip- Ow."

Bo smacked her friends shoulder lightly. "Focus, Kenz."

"Alright, alright. Focusing." She grabbed her beaters bat from her bag, twirling it thoughtfully. "What I wouldn't give to drop this on her head."

"Whose head?"

Kenzi shrugged.

They could hear the crowd above them, chattering and cheering. Ciara strode past with her broom under her arm, pulling on her gloves. "Time to go, guys. Got your wands? Good. Let's go kick some Slytherin ass."

They trudged out of the changing rooms, checking wands and padding. If the Slytherins were trying to shake them up, it had certainly worked.

Kenzi waited until Bo was almost out the door. "Oh, Bo?"

"Yeah?"

"Remember what we talked about the other day?

"I'll do it after the match, Kenz. This is too important to screw up now."

Kenzi sighed, folding her arms and eyeing her friend. "Bo, you've been putting it off for too long. He needs to know, he's human, not some dog to chase after you whilst you play around with Lauren behind his back."

"Lauren and I aren't playing around," Bo hissed.

"Whatever. Just… don't hurt any more people than you already have."

* * *

Lauren watched anxiously from the stands as the two teams walked onto the pitch. Bo was tucking something inside her robes and didn't notice the look Tamsin gave her, the blond rolling her beaters bat deftly between gloved hands.

They mounted their brooms and took off, Dyson, Hale and Bo hovering in a semi-circle at the centre of the pitch. The seekers eyed each other, Ciara kicking away from the ground to circle the stands, Vex smirking and heading in the other direction, towards Slytherins' goals.

The sky was overcast and the air humid, it was uncomfortably warm for the season, and Lauren soon shed her jacket, keeping one hand on her binoculars and the other on her wand.

Madame Hooch blew her whistle, and hurled the quaffle into the air.

Almost immediately the Gryffindor chasers had it, Dyson snatching the ball from the air and tucking it beneath his arm. He swerved neatly around the Slytherins, Bo and Hale following to the other end of the pitch a few feet below him.

Lauren chewed her lip, watching as Dyson lightly tossed the quaffle through the centre goal whilst the Slytherin keeper hovered near the left.

Something wasn't right, the Slytherin team was barely trying, and a quick scan of the excited crowd told Lauren's keen eyes Evony was missing.

Her index finger tapped nervously against her wand as she watched Bo kick the quaffle through the left goal, the keeper having swerved to the right at the last second.

The Slytherins were booing from their stand, some yelling insults at passing players from both teams. Lauren saw Tamsin scowl at what she presumed was a particularly rude remark about the girl's beaters bat, and a second later the blond Slytherin had smacked a bludger in the boy's direction, missing by a hairsbreadth and crashing through the wooden bench on which he was sitting.

It would have been funny, watching the boy's face contort with fear as the bludger smashed through the bench between his legs, but the ball ricocheted dangerously, whistling past a now smirking Tamsin to crack against a Gryffindor goal post, an eerie, dangerous, shimmering glow to it.

A gasp went up from the crowd at the clang of bludger against metal, audible even over the sounds of cheering and yelling from those who hadn't noticed.

Madame Hooch blew her whistle, signalling a time out but the bludger obviously wasn't listening because even as the centre goal stood reverberating it was spinning away, bouncing off the hoop and into the milling crowd of quidditch players.

There was a snap as Hale's broom handle versus the bludger ended in a win for the runaway ball, and he fell out of the sky. Luckily he wasn't so far off the ground as to injure himself seriously - even so, he hit the pitch with a resounding thud.

A scream from the other end of the pitch signalled Kenzi's bludger had gone rogue as well, as she and three members of the Slytherin team pelted up the pitch towards the chaos, the black ball behind them sailing venomously between solid objects, getting closer all the time.

Bo cried out as Vex hurtled past in a panic with the bludger chasing him, his slipstream twisting her sideways and into its path. Desperate, she reached inside her robes, yanking out her wand and shouting, yelling, crying random spells as the bludger screamed towards her.

Even above the noise Lauren could hear her arm snap, watching with her binoculars pressed so hard to her eyes there would be red marks for days as the brunette's ulna protruded bloodily from the crimson sleeve of her robes.

Behind her she could hear a Ravenclaw with a weak stomach throwing up at the sight, but she was too busy running, running through the crowd, running towards the pitch as Bo drifted from the sky, barely concious and loosing blood as all around her her team mates whirled and span like leaves in the wind, some trying bravely to stop the bludger, others speeding away to safety, and none of them anywhere near enough to Bo to catch her.

Lauren hurdled the low wooden wall surrounding the pitch, raising her wand and yelling over the screams of terrified Slytherins the only spell that came into her head.

"Wingardium Leviosa!"

And Bo continued falling.

* * *

AN: I do love a good cliffhanger.


End file.
